■^ 


:--.«^lc:r5lR5!St~ — 


ggMMMOMMaiaitnnaMnsaMMnMw^     .riimvxKmwsiivyt^y. 


Jffrnm  tl|?  ilibrarg  of 

iJpqu^atl|p&  by  l|tm  to 

tl|p  SItbrary  of 

JPnnrrton  Ohmlogtral  S>ntttnarg 


3:^54 


*      J":    11  1922       *! 


THE 


DESCENT  OF  MAN 


AND 


SELECTION  IN  RELATION  TO  SEX. 


BT 


CHARLES  DAR\\^N,  M.  A.,  F.  R.  S.,  Etc. 


Wirn  ILLUSTRATJONS. 


IN   TWO   VOLUMES.— Vol.  II. 


NEW     YORK: 

D.    APPLETON     ANT)     COMPANY, 

549   &   551   BROADWAY. 

1871. 


•1 


CONTENTS. 


PART   IL 

SEXUAL   SELECTION— contimwd. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

SECONDARY   SEX0AL    CHARACTERS    OF   FISHES,    AMminiAXS,    AND    REPTILES. 

Fishes  :  Courtship  and  Rattles  of  the  Males. — Larf^or  Size  of  tlie  Females.^ 
Males,  Briglit  Colors  and  Ornamental  Appendaf^es ;  other  Stran;,'e 
Cliaracters. — Colors  and  Appenda;;es  acquired  by  the  Males  during  tlie 
Breeding-season  alone. — Fishes  with  both  Sexes  brilliantly  colored. — 
Protective  Colors. — Tiie  less  Conspicuous  Colors  of  the  Female  cannot 
be  accounted  for  on  the  Principle  of  Protection. — Male  Fishes  building 
Nests,  and  taking  Charge  of  the  Ova  and  Young.  Amphibians  :  Dift'er- 
ences  in  Structure  and  Color  between  the  Se.xes. — Vocal  Oigans.  Rep- 
tiles :  Chelonians. — Crocodiles. — Snakes,  Colors  in  some  Cases  pro- 
tective.— Lizards,  Battles  of. — Ornamental  Appendages. — Strange  Dif- 
ferences ill  Structure  between  the  Se-xes. — Colors. — Se.\ual  Differences 
almost  as  great  as  with  Birds    .  .  .  .  .  p.  1 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

SECONDARY    SEXUAL    CHARACTERS    OF    BIRDS. 

Sexual  Differences. — Law  of  Battle. — Special  Weapons. — Vocal  Organs. — 
Instrumental  Music. — Love-Antics  and  Dances.— Decorations,  Perma- 
nent an<l  Seasonal. — Double  and  Single  Annual  Moults. — Display  of 
Ornaments  by  the  Males       ......         86 

CHAPTER     XIV. 

BIRDS — contiunrd. 

Choice  exerted  by  the  Female. — Length  of  Courtship. — Unpaired  Birds. — 
Mental  Qualities  and  Taste  for  the  Beautiful. — Preference  or  Antip- 
athy shown  liy  tiir  Female    for     Particular    Males. —  Variability    of 


iv  CONTEXTS. 

Birds. — Variations  sometimes  abrupt. — Laws  of  Variation. — Formation 
of  Ocelli. — Gradations  of  Character. — Case  of  Peacock,  Argus  Pheas- 
ant, and  Urosticte  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        p.  95 

CHAPTER     XV. 

BIRDS — contiimed. 

Discussion  why  the  Males  alone  of  some  Species,  and  both  Sexes  of  other 
Species,  are  brightly  colored. — On  Sexually-limited  Inheritance,  as  ap- 
plied to  Various  Structures  and  to  Brightly-colored  Plumage. — Nidifi- 
cation  in  Relation  to  Color. — Loss  of  Nuptial  Plumage  during  the 
Winter  ........        147 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

B I R  DS — concluded. 

The  Immature  Plumage  in  Relation  to  the  Character  of  the  Plumage  in 
both  Sexes  when  Adult. — Six  Classes  of  Cases. — Sexual  Differences 
between  the  Males  of  Closely-allied  or  Representative  Species. — The 
Female  assuming  the  Characters  of  the  Male. — Plumage  of  the  Young 
in  Relation  to  the  Summer  and  Winter  Plumage  of  the  Adults. — On 
the  Increase  of  Beauty  in  the  Birds  of  the  World. — Protective  Color- 
ing.— Conspicuously-colored  Birds. — Novelty  appreciated. — Summary 
of  the  Four  Chapters  on  Birds      .....        175 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

SECONDARY    SEXDAL    CHARACTERS    OF   MAMMALS. 

The  Law  of  Battle. — Special  Weapons,  confined  to  the  Males. — Cause  of 
Absence  of  Weapons  in  the  Female. — Weapons  common  to  both 
Sexes,  yet  primarily  acquired  by  the  Male. — Other  Uses  of  such  Weap- 
ons.— Their  High  Importance. — Greater  Size  of  the  Alale. — Means  of 
Defence. — On  the  Preference  shown  by  either  Sex  in  the  Pairing  of 
Quadrupeds  .......        228 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

SECONDARY    SEXUAL    CHARACTERS    OF    MAMMALS Continued. 

Voice. — ^Remarkable  Sexual  Peculiarities  in  Seals. — Odor. — Development 
of  the  Hair. — Color  of  the  Hair  and  Skin. — Anomalous  Case  of  the 
Female  being  more  ornamented  than  the  Male. — Color  and  Ornaments 
due  to  Sexual  Selection. — Color  acquired  for  the  Sake  of  Protection. — 
Color,  though  common  to  both  Sexes,  often  due  to  Sexual  Selection. — 


CONTENTS.  V 

On  the  Disappearance  of  Spots  and  Stripes  in  Adult  QuadrupedK. — 
On  the  Colors  and  Oruauients  of  the  Quudrumanu. — Summary    p.  261 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

SECONDARY   SEXUAL    CHARACTERS    OF   MAN. 

Differences  between  Man  and  Woman. — Causes  of  such  Differences  and  of 
Certain  Churac-ters  common  to  both  Sexes. — Law  of  Buttle. — Differ- 
ences in  Mental  Powers — and  Voice. — On  the  Influence  of  Beauty  in 
detL'rmininj»  the  Marriufres  of  Mankind. — Attention  paid  by  Savages 
to  Ornaments. — Tliuir  Iduas  of  Beauty  in  Woman. — The  Tendency 
to  CKaggerate  each  Natural  Peculiarity     ....        301 

CHAPTER  XX. 

SECONDARY    SEXCAL    CHARACTERS    OF   MAN Continued. 

On  tlio  Effects  of  the  Continued  Selection  of  "Women  according  to  a 
Difft-n-nt  Standard  of  Beauty  in  each  Race. — On  the  Causes  which 
iiitcrfc-re  with  Sexual  Selection  in  Civilized  and  Savage  Nations. — 
Conditions  favorable  to  Sexual  Selection  during  Primeval  Times. — On 
the  Manner  of  Action  of  Sexual  Selection  with  Mankind. — On  the 
Women  in  Savage  Tribes  having  some  Power  to  choose  their  Hus- 
bands.— Absence  of  Hair  on  the  Body,  a^d  Development  of  the  Beard. 
— Color  of  the  Skin. — Summary    .....        339 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

GENERAL   SUMMARY   AND   CONCLUSION. 

Main  Conclusion  that  Man  is  descended  from  some  Lower  Form. — Man- 
ner of  Dcvehipment. — Genealogy  of  Man. — Intellectual  and  Moral 
Faculties. — Sexual  Selection. — Concluding  Remarks     .  .        368 


ERRATA. 


Page  line 

26  23 

30  15 

57,  «o<<;^2       2 

11,  note''  — 

114,  «ofe28  — 
123,  7wte*^       4 

199  20 
313  1 

815  25 

820  29 
325  6 

829  11 

366  30 
373  6 

384  23 

892  28 


VOL.  I. 

For 
koato 

prostratica 
speech 
Browne 
Vol.  I. 
Before  vol.  xiv 
prostratica 
Actineae 
land-shells 
Figs.  4  and  5 
Birgos 
attractions 
Typha»us 
tesselatum 
Hypopira 
AcroeidM 


read 
koala, 
prostatica. 
species. 
Brown. 
Vol.  II. 
insert  '  Proc.  Rojal  Soc' 
prostatica. 
Actinias 
land-snails. 
Figs.  4,  5,  and  6. 
Birgus. 
attentions. 
Typhoeus. 
tcssellatum. 
Hypopyra. 
AcneidiE. 


POSTSCEIPT. 


Vol.  T,,  pp.  28'7-289. — I  have  fallen  into  a  serious  and 
nnfortunate  error,  in  relation  to  tlie  sexual  differences  of 
animals,  in  attempting  to  explain  what  seemed  to  me  a 
singular  coincidence  in  the  late  period  of  life  at  which 
the  necessary  variations  have  arisen  in  many  cases,  and 
the  late  period  at  which  sexual  selection  acts.  The  ex- 
planation given  is  wholly  erroneous,  as  I  have  discovered 
"by  working  out  an  illustration  in  figures.  Moreover,  the 
supposed  coincidence  of  period  is  far  from  general,  and 
is  not  remarkable ;  for,  as  I  have  elsewhere  attempted 
to  show,  variations  arising  early  in  life  have  often  been, 
accumulated  through  sexual  selection,  being  then  com- 
monly transmitted  to  both  sexes.  On  the  other  hand, 
variations  arising  late  in  life  cannot  fail  to  coincide  ap- 
proximately in  period  with  tliat  of  the  process  of  sexual 
selection. 


SEXUAL    SELECTIOIS'. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Secondaby  Sexual  Ciiaracteus  of  Fishes,  Amphibi- 
ans, AND  Reptiles. 

Fishes  :  Courtship  and  Battles  of  the  Males. — Larger  Size  of  the  Females. — 
Males,  Bright  Colors  and  Ornamental  Appendages ;  other  Strange 
Characters. — Colors  and  Appendages  acquired  by  the  Males  during  tho 
Breeding-season  alone. — Fishes  with  both  Sexes  brilliantly  colored. — 
Protective  Colors. — The  less  Conspicuous  Colors  of  the  Female  cannot 
be  accounted  for  on  the  Principle  of  Protection. — Male  Fishes  building 
Nests, and  takingChargeof  tlie  Ovaand  Young.  Amphibians:  Ditfer- 
ences  in  Structure  and  Color  between  the  Sexes. — Vocal  Organs.  Rep- 
tiles :  Chelonians. — Crocodiles. — Snakes,  Colors  in  some  Cases  pro- 
tective.— Lizards,  Battles  of. — Ornamental  Appendages. — Strange  Dif- 
ferences in  Structure  between  the  Sexes. — Colors. — Sexual  Ditfcrences 
almost  as  great  as  with  Birds. 

"We  have  now  arrived  at  the  great  svth-kingdom  of  the 
Yertebrata,  and  will  eonimence  with  the  lowest  class, 
nanuly,  Fishes.  The  males  of  Plagiostomous  fishes 
(sharks,  rays)  and  of  Ciiimreroid  fishes  are  provided  with 
claspers  which  serve  to  retain  the  female,  like  the  various 
stnu'tures  possessed  by  so  many  of  the  lower  animals. 
Besides  the  claspers,  the  males  of  many  rays  have  clus- 
ters of  strong  sharp  spines  on  their  heads,  and  several 
rows  along  "the  upper  outer  surface  of  their  pectoral 
iius."      These  are  present  in  the  males  of  some  species, 

wiruli  have  the  other  parts  of  their  bodies  smooth.     They 
20 


2  SEXUAL   SELECTION".  [Part  IL 

are  only  temporarily  developed  during  the  breeding-sea- 
son ;  and  Di-.  Giintlier  suspects  that  they  are  brought  into 
action  as  prehensile  organs  by  the  doubling  inward  and 
downward  of  the  two  sides  of  the  body.  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  the  females  and  not  the  males  of  some  spe- 
cies, as  of  liaia  clavata,  have  their  backs  studded  with 
large  hook-formed  spines.' 

Owing  to  the  element  which  fishes  inhabit,  little  is 
known  about  their  courtship,  and  not  much  about  their 
battles.  The  male  stickleback  ( Gasterosteus  leiurus)  has 
been  described  as  "mad  Avith  delight"  when  the  female 
comes  out  of  her  hiding-place  and  surveys  the  nest  which 
he  has  made  for  her.  "  He  darts  round  her  in  every 
direction,  then  to  his  accumulated  materials  for  the  nest, 
then  back  again  in  an  instant ;  and  as  she  does  not  ad- 
vance he  endeavors  to  push  her  with  his  snout,  and  then 
tries  to  pull  her  by  the  tail  and  side-spine  to  the  nest."  ^ 
The  males  are  said  to  be  polygamists ; '  they  are  extraor- 
dinarily bold  and  pugnacious,  while  "the  females  are 
quite  pacific."  Their  battles  are  at  times  desperate  ;  "  for 
these  puny  combatants  fasten  tight  on  each  other  for  sev- 
eral seconds,  tumbling  over  and  over  again,  until  their 
strength  appears  completely  exhausted."  With  the 
rough-tailed  stickleback  ( G.  trachurus)  the  males  while 
fitrhtincf  swim  round  and  round  each  other,  biting  and  en- 
deavoring  to  pierce  each  other  with  their  raised  lateral 
spines.  The  same  writer  adds :  *  "  The  bite  of  these  little 
furies  is  very  severe.     They  also  use  their  lateral  spines 

'  Yarrcll,  'Hist,  of  British  Fishes,' vol.  ii.  1836,  pp.  417,  425,  436. 
Dr.  Giinther  informs  me  that  the  spines  in  R.  clavata  are  pecuHar  to  the 
female. 

'  See  Mr.  R.  Warington's  interesting  articles  in  '  Annals  and  Mag.  of 
Nat.  Hist.'  Oct.  1852  and  Nov.  1855. 

*  Noel  Humphreys,  'River  Gardens,'  1857. 

*  Loudon's  '  Mag.  of  Natural  History,'  vol.  iii.  1830,  p.  331. 


Chap.  XII.]  FISHES.  3 

with  such  fotal  effect,  tliat  I  have  seen  one  during  a  bat- 
tle absohitely  rip  his  opponent  quite  open,  so  that  he  sank 
to  the  bottom  and  dieil."  When  a  fish  is  conquered,  "his 
galLant  bearing  forsakes  him  ;  his  gay  colors  fade  away ; 
and  he  hides  his  disgrace  among  liis  peaceable  compan- 
ions, but  is  for  some  time  the  constant  object  of  his  con- 
queror's persecution." 

The  male  salmon  is  as  pugnacious  as  the  little  stickle- 
back;  and  so  is  the  male  trout,  as  I  hear  from  Dr.  Giin- 
ther.  Mr.  Shaw  saw  a  violent  contest  between  two  male 
salmons  which  lasted  the  whole  day ;  and  Mr.  R.  Buist, 
Superintendent  of  Fisheries,  informs  me  that  he  has  often 
watched  from  the  bridge  at  Perth  the  males  driving 
away  their  rivals  while  the  females  were  spawning.  The 
males  "  are  constantly  fighting  and  tearing  each  other  on 
the  spawning-beds,  and  many  so  injure  each  other  as  to 
cause  the  death  of  numbers,  many  being  seen  swimming 
near  the  banks  of  the  river  in  a  state  of  exhaustion,  and 
apparently  in  a  dying  state."  ^  The  keeper  of  the  Stor- 
monttield  breeding-ponds  visited,  as  Mr.  Buist  informs  me, 
in  June,  1868,  the  northern  Tyne,  and  found  about  300 
dead  salmon,  all  of  which  with  one  exception  were  males  ; 
and  he  was  convinced  that  they  liad  lost  their  lives  by 
fighting. 

The  most  curious  point  about  the  male  salmon  is  that 
during  tlie  breeding-season,  besides  a  slight  change  in 
color,  "  the  lower  jaw  elongates,  and  a  cartilaginous  pro- 
jection turns  upward  from  the  point,  which,  when  the 
jaws  are  closed,  occupies  a  deep  cavity  between  "  the  in- 
termaxillary bones  of  the  upper  jaw."  "     (Figs.  26   and 

^  'The  Field,'  June  29,  1807.  For  Mr.  Shaw's  statement,  sec  'Edin- 
burgh Review,'  1813.  Another  experienced  ob.^erver  (Scrope's  'Days  of 
Sahiion  Fishintr,'  p.  00)  remarks  that  the  male  would,  if  he  could,  keep, 
like  the  stag,  all  other  males  away. 

*  Yarrell,  'History  of  British  Fishes,'  vol.  ii.  ISSC,  p.  10. 


SEXUAL   SELECTIOX. 


[Part  II. 


27.)  In  our  salmon  this  change  of  structure  lasts  only 
during  the  breeding-season  ;  but  in  the  Salmo  lycaodon 
of  Northwestern  America  the  change,  as  Mr  J.  K.  Lord  ^ 


Fig.  2G.— Head  of  male  of  common  palmon  (Salmo  ealar)  during  the  brceding- 

eeason. 

[TluH  drawing,  as  well  ns  all  the  others  in  the  present  chapter,  have  been  ex- 
ecnted  l)y  the  well-known  artist,  Mr.  G.  Ford,  under  the  kind  superintendence 
of  Dr.  Oflnther,  from  specimens  in  the  British  Museum]. 


'The  Naturalist  iu  Vancouver's  Island,'  vol.  1.  1SG6,  p.  54. 


Chap.  XII.]  FISUES.  5 

Lc'lifves,  is  })crmanent  and  best  markol  in  tlic  older  males 
which  have  previously  ascended  the  rivers.  In  these  old 
males  the  jaws  become  developed  into  immense  hook-like 


Fig.  27.— Iload  of  female  salmon. 

])rojections,  and  the  teeth  <;row  into  regular  fangs,  often 
niore  than  half  an  inch  in  length.  With  the  European 
salmon,  according  to  Mr.  Lloyd,'  the  temporary  hook-like 
structure  serves  to  strengthen  and  protect  the  jaws,  when 

*  'Scandinavian  Adventures,'  vol.  i.  1854,  pp.  101,  101. 


6  SEXUAL   SELECTION.  [Part  IL 

one  male  charges  another  with  "wonderful  violence  ;  but 
the  greatly  developed  teeth  of  the  male  American  salmon 
may  be  compared  with  the  tusks  of  many  male  mammals, 
and  they  indicate  an  offensive  rather  than  a  ])rotective 
jiurpose. 

The  salmon  is  not  the  only  fish  in  which  the  teeth 
differ  in  the  two  sexes.  This  is  the  case  with  many  rays. 
In  the  thornback  [Raia  clavata)  the.  adult  male  has  sharp, 
pointed  teeth,  directed  backward,  while  those  of  the  fe- 
male are  broad  and  flat,  forming  a  pavement;  so  that 
these  teeth  differ  in  the  two  sexes  of  the  same  species 
more  than  is  usual  in  distinct  genera  of  the  same  family. 
The  teeth  of  the  male  become  sharp  only  when  he  is 
adult :  while  young  they  are  broad  and  fiat  like  those  of 
the  female.  As  so  frequently  occurs  with  secondary  sex- 
ual characters,  both  sexes  of  some  species  of  rays,  for  in- 
stance R.  batis,  possess,  when  adult,  sharp,  pointed  teeth ; 
and  here  a  character,  proper  to  and  primarily  gained  by 
the  male,  appears  to  have  been  transmitted  to  the  off- 
spring of  both  sexes.  The  teeth  are  likewise  pointed  in 
both  sexes  of  R.  maculata,  but  only  when  completely 
adult ;  the  males  acquiring  them  at  an  earlier  age  than  the 
females.  We  shall  hereafter  meet  with  analogous  cases 
with  certain  birds,  in  which  the  male  acquires  the  plu- 
mage common  to  both  adult  sexes,  at  a  somewhat  earlier 
age  than  the  female.  With  other  species  of  rays  the 
males  even  when  old  never  possess  sharp  teeth,  and  con- 
sequently both  sexes  when  adult  are  provided  with  broad, 
flat  teeth,  like  those  of  the  young,  and  of  the  mature  fe- 
males of  the  above-mentioned  species.'  As  the  rays  are 
bold,  strong,  and  voracious  fishes,  we  may  suspect  that  the 
males  require  their  sharp  teeth  for  fighting  with  their 
rivals;    but  as   they   possess   many   parts   modified   and 

•  See  Yarrell's  account  of  the  Rays  in  his  '  Hist,  of  British  Fishes,' 
vol.  ii.  1836,  p.  416,  with  an  excellent  figure,  and  pp.  422,  432, 


Chap.  XII.]  FISHES.  7 

adapted  for  the  prehension  of  the  femak',  it  is  possible 
that  their  teeth  may  be  used  for  this  purpose. 

In  regard  to  size,  M.  Carbonnier  "  maintains  tliat  with 
almost  all  fishes  the  female  is  larger  than  the  male ;  and 
Dr.  Giliitlier  does  not  know  of  a  single  instance  in  which 
the  male  is  actually  larger  than  the  female.  With  some 
Cyprinodonts  the  male  is  not  even  half  as  large  as  the 
female.  As  with  many  kinds  of  fishes,  tlie  males  habitu- 
ally fight  together ;  it  is  surprising  that  they  have  not 
generally  become  through  the  efiects  of  sexual  selection 
larger  and  stronger  than  the  females.  The  males  suffer 
from  their  small  size,  for  according  to  M.  Carbonnier  they 
are  liable  to  be  devoured  by  the  females  of  their  own  spe- 
cies when  carnivorous,  and  no  doubt  by  other  species. 
Increased  size  must  be  in  some  manner  of  more  impor- 
tance to  the  females,  than  strength  and  size  are  to  the 
males  for  fighting  with  other  males ;  and  this  perhaps  is 
to  allow  of  the  production  of  a  vast  number  of  ova. 

In  many  species  the  male  alone  is  ornamented  with 
bright  colors ;  or  these  are  much  brighter  in  the  male 
than  in  the  female.  The  male,  also,  is  sometimes  provided 
with  apjieiidages  which  appear  to  be  of  no  more  use  to  him 
for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life  than  are  the  tail-feathers 
to  the  peacock.  I  am  indebted  for  most  of  the  folloAving 
facts  to  the  great  kindness  of  Dr.  Giinther.  There  is  rea- 
son to  suspect  that  many  tropical  fislies  difier  sexually  in 
color  and  structure ;  and  there  are  some  striking  cases 
with  our  British  fishes.  The  male  Callionymus  lyra  has 
been  called  the  gemmeous  dragonet  "  from  its  brilliant, 
gem-like  colors."  When  freshly  taken  from  the  sea  the 
body  is  yellow  of  various  shades,  striped  and  spotted  with 
vivid  blue  on  the  hca*! ;  tlie  dorsal  fins  are  pale  brown 
with  dark  longitudinal  bands;  the  ventral,  caudal,  and 
anal  fins  being  l)luish-l>lack.     The  female,  or  sordid  drag- 

'0  As  quoted  in  '  The  Farmer,'  1808,  p.  369. 


8 


SEXUAL  SELECTIOX. 


[Part  II. 


onct,  was  considered  by  Linnaeus  and  by  many  subse- 
quent naturalists  as  a  distinct  species;  it  is  of  a  dingy 


Fig.  28.— Callionymns  Ijra.    Upper  fifrurc,  male ;  lower  figure,  female. 

reddish-brown,  with  the  dorsal  fin  brown  and  the  other 
fins  Avhite,  The  sexes  difier  also  in  the  proportional  size 
of  the  head  and  month,  and  in  the  position  of  the  eyes ;  " 
but  the  most  striking  diftcrcnce  is  the  extraordinary  elon- 
gation in  the  male  (Fig.  28)  of  the  dorsal  fin.  The  young 
males  resemble,  in  stiucture  and  color,  the  adult  females. 
Throughout  the  genus  Callionymus,"  the  male  is  gcner- 

"  I  have  drawn  up  this  description  from  Yarrcll's  'British  Fishes,' 
vol.  i.  1836,  pp.  261,266. 

"  '  Catalogue  of  Acanth.  Fishes  in  the  British  Museum,'  by  Dr. 
Gunther,  1861,  pp.  138-151. 


Chap.  XII.]  FISHES.  9 

ally  much  more  brightly  spotted  than  tho  fcnialc,  and  in 
several  species,  not  only  the  dorsal,  but  the  anal  fin  of  the 
male,  is  much  elongated. 

The  male  of  the  Cottus  scorpius,  or  sea-scorpion,  is 
more  slender  and  smaller  than  the  female.  There  is  also 
a  great  dilference  in  color  between  them.  It  is  difficult, 
as  ]\Ir.  Lloyd  "  remarks,  "  for  any  one,  who  has  not  seen 
this  fish  during  the  spawning-season,  when  its  hues  are 
brightest,  to  conceive  the  admixture  of  brilliant  colors 
with  which  it,  in  other  respects  so  ill-favored,  is  at  that 
time  adorned."  Both  sexes  of  the  Lahrus  tnixtus,  al- 
though very  ditlerent  in  color,  are  beautiful ;  the  male 
being  orange  with  bright-blue  stripes,  and  the  female 
bright-red  with  some  black  spots  on  the  back. 

In  the  very  distinct  family  of  the  Cyprinodontida^ — 
inhabitants  of  the  fresh  waters  of  foreign  lands — the  sexes 
sometimes  diffi^r  much  in  various  characters.  In  the  male 
of  the  Mollienesia  jjetenefisis,^*  the  dorsal  fin  is  greatly 
developed,  and  is  marked  with  a  row  of  large,  round,  ocel- 
lated,  bright-colored  spots;  while  the  same  fin  in  the  fe- 
male is  smaller,  of  a  difierent  shape,  and  marked  only  with 
irregularly-curved  brown  spots.  In  the  male  the  basal 
margin  of  the  anal  fin  is  also  a  little  produced  and  dark- 
colored.  In  the  male  of  an  allied  form,  the  ^iphoj^/iorus 
Ilellerii  (Fig.  29),  the  inferior  margin  of  the  anal  fin  is 
developed  into  a  long  filament,  which  is  striped,  as  I  hear 
from  Dr.  GUnther,  with  bright  colors.  This  filament  docs 
not  contain  any  muscles,  and  appai'ently  cannot  be  of  any 
direct  use  to  the  fish.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Callionymus, 
the  males  while  young  resemble  in  color  and  structure  the 
adult  females.     Sexual  difierences  such  as  these  may  be 

"  '  Came  Birds  of  Sweden,'  etc.,  186T,  p.  4G6. 

"  With  respect  to  this  and  the  following  species  I  am  indebted  to  Dr. 
Giinther  for  information;  see  also  his  paper  on  the  Fishes  of  Central 
America,  in  'Transact.  Zoolog.  Soc.'  vol.  vi.  1868,  p.  485. 


10 


SEXUAL   SELECTION 


[Part  IL 


strictly  oomparccl  with  tliosc  which  aro  so  frequent  with 
galhnaceous  birds."" 


> 


/y 


Fig.  29. — Xiphophoras  Hellerii.    Upper  figure,  male;  lower  flgufe.  female. 

In  a  sihiroid  fish,  inhabiting  the  fresh  waters  of  South 
America,  namely  the  Plecostomus  harhatus  "  (Fig.  30), 
the  male  has  its  mouth  and  interopcrculum  fringed  with  a 
beard  of  stiff  hairs,  of  which  the  female  shows  hardly  a 
trace.  These  hairs  are  of  the  nature  of  scales.  In  another 
species  of  the  same  genus,  soft  flexible  tentacles  project 
from  the  front  part  of  the  head  of  the  male,  which  are 
absent  in  the  female.  These  tentacles  are  prolongations 
of  the  true  skin,  and  therefore  are  not  homologous  with 
■the  stiflf  hairs  of  the  former  species ;  but  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  both  serve  the  same  purpose.  What  this 
purpose  may  be  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  ;  ornament 
does  not  here  seem  probable,  but  we  can  hardly  suppose 

"  Dr.  Giinthcr  makes  this  remark:  'Catalogue  of  Fishes  in  the  Brit- 
ish Museum,'  vol.  iii.  1861,  p.  141. 

"  See  Dr.  Giinthcr  on  this  genus,  in  '  Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc.'  1 868,  p.  232. 


Chap.  XII.] 


FISUES. 


11 


Fio.  20.— Plccoetomus  barMtns.    Upptr  lii^ui x,  head  of  male ;  lower  flgnrc,  female. 


12  SEXUAL  SELECTION.  [Part  IL 

that  stiff  hairs  and  flexible  filaments  can  be  useful  in  any- 
ordinary  way  to  the  males  alone.  The  Monacanthus 
scopas,  which  was  shown  to  me  in  the  British  Museum  by 
Dr.  Gttnther,  presents  a  nearly  anah^gous  case.  The  male 
has  a  cluster  of  stiff,  straight  spines,  like  those  of  a  comb, 
on  the  sides  of  the  tail ;  and  these  in  a  specimen  six  inches 
long  were  nearly  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length ;  the  female 
lias  on  the  same  place  a  cluster  of  bristles,  which  may  be 
compared  with  those  of  a  tooth-brush.  In  another  species, 
the  M.  peronii,  the  male  has  a  brush  like  that  possessed 
by  the  female  of  the  last  species,  w^hile  the  sides  of  the 
tail  in  the  female  are  smooth.  In  some  other  species  the 
same  part  of  the  tail  can  be  perceived  to  be  a  little  rough- 
ened in  the  male  and  perfectly  smooth  in  the  female ;  and 
lastly,  in  otliers,  both  sexes  have  smooth  sides.  In  that 
strange  monster,  the  Chhncera  moy^strosa,  the  male  has  a 
hook-shaped  bone  on  the  top  of  the  head,  directed  for- 
ward, with  its  rounded  end  covered  with  sharp  spines  ;  in 
tlie  female  "  this  crown  is  altogether  absent,"  but  what  its 
use  may  be  is  utterly  unknown." 

The  structures  as  yet  referred  to  are  permanent  in  the 
male  after  he  has  arrived  at  maturity;  but  with  some 
Blennies  and  in  another  allied  genus  '^  a  crest  is  developed 
on  the  head  of  the  male  only  during  the  breeding-season, 
and  their  bodies  at  the  same  time  become  more  brightly- 
colored.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  crest  serves 
as  a  temporary  sexual  ornament,  for  the  fi-male  does  not 
exhibit  a  trace  of  it.  In  other  species  of  the  same  genus 
both  sexes  possess  a  crest,  and  in  at  least  one  species 
neither  sex  is  thus  provided.  In  this  case  and  in  that  of 
the  INIonacanthus,  we  have  good  instances  to  how  great 
an  extent  the  sexual  characters  of  closely-allied  forms  may 

"  F.  Buckland,  in  '  Land  and  Water,'  July,  18f.8,  p.  Z11,  with  a 
figure. 

>8  Dr.  Gunther,  'Catalogue  of  Fishes,'  vol.  iii.  pp.  221,  240. 


Chap.  XII.]  FISHES.  13 

differ.  In  many  <>1"  tlic  Chromida?,  for  instance,  in  Geo- 
phagus  and  esjK'cially  in  Cielila,  the  males,  as  I  liear  from 
Prof.  Agassiz,'"  have  a  eonspieuons  protuberance  on  the 
forehead,  which  is  wholly  wanting  in  the  females  and  in 
the  young  males.  Prof  Agassiz  adds  :  "  I  have  often 
observed  these  tislies  at  the  time  of  spawning  when  the 
protuberance  is  largest,  and  at  other  seasons  when  it  is 
totally  wanting  and  the  two  sexes  show  no  difference 
whatever  in  the  outline  of  the  profile  of  the  head.  I  never 
could  ascertain  that  it  subserves  any  special  function,  and 
the  Indians  on  the  Amazons  know  nothing  about  its  use." 
These  protuberances  in  their  periodical  appearance  resem- 
ble the  fleshy  caruncles  on  the  heads  of  certain  birds  ; 
but  whether  they  serve  as  ornaments  must  reniain  at 
present  doubtful. 

The  males  of  those  fishes,  which  differ  permanently  in 
color  from  the  females,  often  become  more  brilliant,  as  I 
hear  from  Prof.  Agassiz  and  Dr.  Gilnther,  during  the 
breeding-season.  This  is  likewise  the  case  with  a  multi- 
tude of  fishes,  the  sexes  of  which  at  all  other  seasons  of 
the  year  are  identical  in  color.  The  tench,  roach,  and 
perch,  may  be  given  as  instances.  The  male  salmon  at 
this  season  is  "  marked  on  the  cheeks  with  orange-colored 
stripes,  which  gave  it  the  a})i)earance  of  a  Labrus,  and 
the  body  jiartakes  of  a  golden-orange  tinge.  The  females 
arc  (lark  in  color,  and  are  commoidy  called  blackfish."" 
An  analogous  and  even  greater  change  takes  place  with 
the  ^Sdlmo  t'n'ojr^  or  bull-trout  ;  the  males  of  the  char  {S. 
umblti)  are  likewise  at  this  season  rather  brighter  in 
color  than  the  females.^'     The  colors  of  the  pike  {Esox  re- 

'»  See  also  'A  .Tourney  in  Urazil,'  by  Prof.  :in<l  .Mrs.  Agassiz,  1808, 
p.  220. 

'»  Yarrell,  '  Hriti.^h  Fishes,'  vol.  ii.  1S3C,  pp.  10,  12,  S;"). 

"  W.  Thompson,  in  'Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Ilistory,'  vol.  vi.  1811, 
p.  440. 


14  SEXUAL   SELECTION.  [Part  IL 

ticulatus),  of  the  United  States,  especially  of  the  male, 
become,  during  the  breeding-season,  exceedingly  intense, 
brilliant,  and  iridescent."  Another  striking  instance  out 
of  many  is  alVordod  by  the  male  stickleback  ( Gasterosteiis 
leiurus),  which  is  described  by  Mr.  Warington,"  as  being 
then  "  beautiful  beyond  description."  The  back  and  eyes 
of  the  female  are  simply  brown,  and  the  belly  white.  The 
eyes  of  the  male,  on  the  other  hand,  are  "  of  the  most 
splendid  green,  having  a  metallic  lustre  like  the  green 
feathers  of  some  humming-birds.  The  throat  and  belly 
are  of  a  bright  crimson,  the  back  of  an  ashy-green,  and 
the  whole  fish  appears  as  though  it  were  somewhat  trans- 
lucent, and  glowed  with  an  internal  incandescence." 
After  the  breeding-season  these  colors  all  change,  the 
throat  and  belly  become  of  a  paler  red,  the  back  more 
green,  and  the  glowing  tints  subside. 

That  with  fishes  there  exists  some  close  relation  be- 
tween their  colors  and  their  sexual  functions  we  can  clearly 
see — firstly,  from  the  adult  males  of  certain  species  being 
differently  colored  from  the  females,  and  often  much  more 
brilliantly;  secondly,  from  the  same  males,  while  im- 
mature, rcseml)ling  the  mature  females ;  and,  lastly,  from 
the  males,  even  of  those  species  which  at  all  other  times 
of  the  year  are  identical  in  color  with  the  females,  often 
acquiring  brilliant  tints  during  the  spawning-season.  We 
know  that  the  males  are  ardent  in  their  courtship,  and 
sometimes  fight  desperately  together.  If  we  may  assume 
that  the  females  have  the  power  of  exerting  a  choice  and 
of  selecting  the  more  highly-ornamented  males,  all  the 
above  facts  become  intelligible  through  the  principle  of 
sexual  selection.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  females  ha- 
bitually deposited  and  left  their  ova  to  be  fertilized  by  the 
first  male  which  chanced  to  appi'oach,  this  fact  would  be 

"  'The  American  Agriculturist,'  1868,  p.  100. 
"  '  Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  Oct.  1852. 


Chap.  XII.]  FISHES.  15 

fatal  to  the  efficiency  of  sexual  selection;  for  tliere  could 
be  no  choice  of  a  partner.  But,  as  far  as  is  known,  the 
female  never  willingly  spawns  except  in  the  close  presence 
of  a  male,  and  the  male  never  fertilizes  the  ova  except  in 
the  close  presence  of  a  female.  It  is  obviously  difficult  to 
obtain  direct  evidence  witli  respect  to  female  tislies  select- 
ing their  partners.  An  excellent  observer,"  who  carefully 
watched  the  spawning  of  minnows  (C'/prhius  phoxinus), 
remarks  that  owing  to  the  males,  which  were  ten  times  as 
numerous  as  the  females,  crowding  closely  round  them,  he 
could  "  speak  only  doubtfully  on  their  operations.  When 
a  female  came  among  a  number  of  males  they  immediately 
pursued  her ;  if  she  was  not  ready  for  shedding  her  spawn, 
she  made  a  precipitate  retreat ;  but  if  she  was  ready,  she 
came  boldly  in  among  them,  and  was  immediately  pressed 
closely  by  a  male  on  each  side  ;  and  when  they  had  been 
in  that  situation  a  short  time,  were  superseded  by  other 
two,  who  wedged  themselves  in  between  them  and  the 
female,  who  appeared  to  treat  all  her  lovers  with  the  same 
kindness."  Notwithstanding  this  last  statement,  I  can- 
not, from  the  several  previous  considerations,  give  up  the 
belief  that  the  males  which  are  the  most  attractive  to  the 
females,  from  their  brighter  colors  or  other  ornaments, 
are  commonly  preferred  by  them ;  and  that  the  males  have 
thus  been  rendered  more  beautiful  in  the  course  of  ages. 

We  have  next  to  inquire  whether  this  view  can  be  ex- 
tended, through  the  law  of  the  equal  transmission  of  char- 
acters to  both  sexes,  to  those  groups  in  which  the  males 
and  females  are  brilliant  in  the  same  or  nearly  the  same 
degree  and  manner.  In  such  a  genus  as  Labrus,  which 
includes  some  of  the  most  splendid  fishes  in  the  world,  for 
instance,  the  Peacock  Labrus  (X.  pavo)y  described,"  with 

»^  Loudon's  'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  v.  1832,  p.  681. 
''  Bory  dc  Saint-Vincent,  in  'Diet.  Class.  d'Hist.  Nat'  torn.  ix.  1826, 
p.  151. 


16  SEXUAL  SELECTION.  [Part  H. 

pardonable  exaggeration,  as  formed  of  jiolished  scales  of 
gold  encrusting  lapis-lazuli,  rubies,  sapphires,  emeralds, 
and  amethysts,  we  may,  -with  much  probability,  accept 
this  belief;  for  we  have  seen  that  the  sexes  in  at  least  one 
species  ditt'er  greatly  in  color.  With  some  fishes,  as  with 
many  of  the  lowest  animals,  sj)lendid  colors  may  be  the 
direct  result  of  the  nature  of  their  tissues,  and  of  the  sur- 
rounding conditions,  without  any  aid  from  selection.  The 
golil-1\sh  (Ct/prinus  aurattis),  judging  from  the  analogy 
of  the  golden  variety  of  the  common  carp,  is,  perhaps,  a 
case  in  point,  as  it  may  owe  its  splendid  colors  to  a  single 
abruj)t  variation,  due  to  the  conditions  to  which  this  fish 
has  been  subjected  under  confinement.  It  is,  however, 
more  probable  that  these  colors  have  been  intensified 
through  artificial  selection,  as  this  species  has  been  care- 
fully bred  in  China  from  a  remote  period."  Under  nat- 
ural conditions  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  beings  so 
highly  organized  as  fishes,  and  which  live  under  such  com- 
plex relations,  should  become  brilliantly  colored  without 
suttering  some  evil,  or  receiving  some  benefit,  from  so 
great  a  change,  and  consequently  without  the  intervention 
of  natural  selection. 

AVhat,  then,  must  we  conclude  in  regard  to  the  many 
fishes,  both  sexes  of  which  are  splendidly  colored  ?  Mr. 
Wallace  "  believes  that  the  species  which  frequent  reefs, 

**  Owing  to  some  remarks  on  tliis  subject,  made  in  my  work  '  On  the 
Variation  of  Animals  under  Domestication,'  Mr.  W.  F.  Mayers  ('Chinese 
Notes  and  Queries,'  Aug.  1868,  p.  123)  has  searched  the  ancient  Chinese 
encyclopaedias.  He  finds  that  gold-fish  were  first  reared  in  confinement 
during  the  Sung  Dynasty,  which  commenced  a.  d.  960.  In  the  year  1129 
these  fislies  abounded.  In  another  place  it  is  said  that  since  the  year 
1548  there  has  been  "produced  at  ILang-Chow  a  variety  called  the  fire- 
fish,  from  its  intensely  red  color.  It  is  universally  admired,  and  there  Ls 
not  a  household  where  it  is  not  cultivated,  in  rivalry  as  (o  its  color,  and 
as  a  source  of  profit." 

"  '  Westminster  Review,'  July,  ISet,  p.  7. 


Chap.  XII.]  FISHES.  17 

where  corals  and  other  brightly-colorcJ  organisms  ahound, 
■are  In-iglitly  colored  in  order  to  escape  detection  l)y  tlieir 
enemies;  but  according  to  my  recollection  they  were  thus 
rendered  highly  conspicuous.  In  the  fresh-waters  of  the 
Tropics  there  are  no  brilliantly-colored  corals  or  other  or- 
ganisms for  tlie  fislies  to  resemble;  yet  many  species  in 
the  Amazons  are  beautifully  colored,  and  many  of  the  car- 
nivorous Cyj)rinidaj  in  India  are  oi'namented  with  "  bright 
longitudinal  lines  of  various  tints."  "*  Mr.  McClelland,  in 
descril)iiig  these  fishes  goes  so  far  as  to  suppose  that  the 
peculiar  brilliancy  of  their  colors "  serves  as  "  a  better 
mark  for  king-fishers,  terns,  and  other  birds  which  are 
destined  to  keep  the  number  of  these  fishes  in  check;" 
but  at  the  present  day  few  naturalists  will  admit  that  any 
animal  has  been  made  conspicuous  as  an  aid  to  its  own 
destruction.  It  is  possible  that  certain  fishes  may  have 
been  rendered  conspicuous  in  order  to  warn  birds  and 
beasts  of  j^rey  (as  explained  when  treating  of  caterpillars) 
that  they  were  unpalatable ;  but  it  is  not,  I  believe, 
known  that  any  fish,  at  least  any  fresh-water  fish,  is  re- 
jected from  being  distasteful  to  fisli-devouring  animals. 
On  the  whole,  the  most  probable  view  in  regard  to  the 
fishes,  of  which  both  sexes  are  brilliantly  colored,  is  that 
their  colors  have  been  acquired  by  the  males  as  a  sexual 
ornament,  and  have  been  transferred  in  an  equal  or  nearly 
equal  degree  to  the  other  sex. 

We  have  now  to  consider  whether,  when  the  male  dif- 
fers in  a  marked  manner  from  the  female  in  color  or  in 
other  ornaments,  he  alone  has  been  modified,  with  the 
variations  inherited  only  by  his  male  oftspring;  or  whether 
tlie  female  has  been  specially  modified  and  rendered  incon- 
sjticuous  for  the  sake  of  protection,  such  modifications  be- 
ing inherited  only  by  the  females.     It  is    iinj)Ossible    to 

**  "  Indian  Cyprinida?,"  by  Mr.  J.  McClelland,  *  Asiatic  Bcsearches,' 
vol.  .\ix.  part  ii.  1839,  p.  230. 


18  SEXUAL   SELECTION.  [Part  IL 

doubt  that  color  lias  been  acquired  by  many  fishes  as  a 
protection :  no  one  can  behold  the  speckled  upper  surface 
of  a  flounder,  and  overlook  its  resemblance  to  the  sandy 
bed  of  the  sea  on  wliich  it  lives.  One  of  the  most  striking 
instances  ever  recorded  of  an  animal  gaining  protection 
by  its  color  (as  far  as  can  be  judged  in  preserved  speci- 
mens) and  by  its  form,  is  that  given  by  Dr.  Gilnther"  of 
a  pipe-iish,  which,  Avith  its  reddish  streaming  filaments,  is 
hardly  distinguishable  from  tlie  sea-weed  to  which  it 
clings  with  its  prehensile  tail.  But  the  question  now 
under  consideration  is,  whether  the  females  alone  have 
been  modified  for  this  object.  Fishes  ofier  valuable  evi- 
dence on  this  head.  We  can  see  that  one  sex  will  not  be 
modified  through  natural  selection  for  the  sake  of  protec- 
tion more  than  the  other,  supposing  both  to  vary,  unles^s 
one  sex  is  exposed  for  a  longer  period  to  danger,  or  has 
less  power  of  escaping  from  such  danger  than  the  other 
sex ;  and  it  docs  not  appear  that  with  fishes  the  sexes 
difler  in  these  respects.  As  far  as  there  is  any  difference, 
the  males,  from  being  generally  of  smaller  size,  and  from 
wandering  more  about,  are  exposed  to  greater  danger 
than  the  females ;  and  yet,  when  the  sexes  differ,  the 
males  are  almost  always  the  most  conspicuously  colored. 
The  ova  are  fertilized  immediately  after  being  deposited, 
and  when  this  process  lasts  for  several  days,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  salmoUj^"  the  female,  during  the  whole  time,  is  at- 
tended by  the  male.  After  the  ova  are  fertilized  they  are, 
in  most  cases,  left  unprotected  by  both  parents,  so  that 
the  males  and  females,  as  far  as  oviposition  is  concerned, 
are  equally  exposed  to  danger,  and  both  are  equally  im- 
portant for  the  jjroduction  of  fertile  ova  ;  consequently 
the  more  or  less  brightly-colored  individuals  of  either  sex 
would  be  equally  liable  to  be  destroyed  or  preserved,  and 

S9  'Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc'  1865,  p.  327,  pis.  xiv.,  xv. 
*"  Yarrcll,  'British  Fishes,'  vol.  il.  p.  11. 


Chap.  XI I.]  FISHES.  -  19 

botli  would  liiivc  nil  equal  influence  on  the  colors  of  their 
offspring  or  the  race. 

Certain  fishes,  belonging  to  several  families,  make 
nests  ;  and  some  of  these  fishes  take  care  of  their  young 
when  hatched.  Both  sexes  of  the  brightly-colored  Creni- 
labi'us  massa  and  rnclops  work  together  in  building  their 
nests  with  sea-weed,  shells,  etc."  But  the  males  of  cer- 
tain fishes  do  all  the  work,  and  afterward  take  exclusive 
charge  of  the  young.  This  is  the  case  Avith  the  dull-col- 
ored gobies,"  in  wliich  the  sexes  are  not  known  to  differ 
m  color,  and  likewise  with  the  stickleliacks  (Gastcrosteus), 
in  wliich  the  males  become  brilliantly  colored  during  the 
spawning-season.  The  male  of  the  smooth-tailed  stickle- 
back ( G.  leiurus)  performs  during  a  long  time  the  duties 
of  a  nurse  with  exemplary  care  and  vigilance,  and  is  con- 
tinually employed  in  gently  leading  back  the  young  to 
the  nest  when  they  stray  too  far.  He  courageously  drives 
away  all  enemies,  including  the  females  of  his  own  spe- 
cies. It  would  indeed  be  no  small  relief  to  the  male  if 
tlie  female,  after  depositing  her  eggs,  were  immediately 
devoured  by  some  enemy,  for  he  is  forced  incessantly  to 
drive  her  from  the  nest." 

The  males  of  certain  other  fishes  inhabiting  South 
America  and  Ceylon,  and  belonging  to  two  distinct  or- 
ders, have  the  extraordinary  habit  of  hatching  the  eggs 
laid  by  tlie  females  within  their  mouths  or  branchial  cavi- 
ties." With  the  Amazonian  species  which  follow  this 
habit,  the  males,  as  I  am  informed  by  the  kindness  of 

"  According  to  the  observations  of  M.  Gerbe ;  see  Giinther's  '  Record 
of  Zoolog.  Litcniturc,'  1805,  p.  194. 

a-  Cuvicr,  '  Regne  Animal,'  vol.  ii.  1829,  p.  242. 

"^  See  Mr.  Waiington's  most  interesting  description  of  the  habits  of 
the  Qasteroslcus  Itlitrus,  in  'Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  llist.'  Nov.  1855. 

"  Prof.  Wyman,  in  '  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  Sept.  15,  1857. 
Also,  W.  Turner,  in  'Journal  of  Auatomy  and  Phys.'  Nov.  1,  1866,  p.  78. 
Dr.  Gunther  has  likewise  described  other  cases. 


20  SEXUAL   SELECTION.  [Pakt  IL 

Prof.  Agassiz,  "  not  only  are  generally  brighter  than  the 
females,  but  the  difference  is  greater  at  the  spawning-sea- 
son than  at  any  otlier  time."  The  species  of  Geopliagus 
act  in  the  same  manner ;  and  in  this  genus,  a  conspicuous 
protuberance  becomes  developed  on  the  forehead  of  the 
males  dui-ing  the  breeding-season.  With  the  various  spe- 
cies of  Chromids,  as  Prof.  Agassiz  likewise  informs  me, 
sexual  differences  in  color  may  be  observed,  "  whether 
they  lay  their  eggs  in  the  water  among  aquatic  plants,  or 
deposit  them  in  holes,  leaving  them  to  come  out  without 
further  care,  or  build  shallow  nests  in  the  river-mud,  over 
which  they  sit,  as  our  Promotis  does.  It  ought  also  to  be 
observed  that  these  sitters  are  among  the  brightest  spe- 
cies in  their  respective  families  ;  for  instance,  Hygrogonus 
is  bright  green,  with  large  black  ocelli,  encircled  with  the 
most  brilliant  red."  "Whether  with  all  the  species  of 
Chromids  it  is  the  male  alone  which  sits  on  the  eggs  is 
not  known.  It  is,  however,  manifest  that  the  fact  of  the 
eggs  being  protected  or  unprotected,  has  had  little  or  no 
influence  on  the  differences  in  color  between  the  sexes. 
It  is  further  manifest,  in  all  the  cases  in  which  the  males 
take  exclusive  charge  of  the  nests  and  young,  that  the 
destruction  of  the  brighter-colored  males  would  be  far 
more  influential  on  the  character  of  the  race,  than  the  de- 
struction of  the  brighter-colored  females ;  for  the  death 
of  the  male  during  the  period  of  incubation  or  nursing 
would  entail  the  death  of  the  young,  so  that  these  could 
not  inherit  his  peculiarities;  yet,  in  many  of  these  very  cases 
the  males  are  more  conspicuously  colored  than  the  females. 
In  most  of  the  Lophobranchii  (Pipe-fish,  Hippocampi, 
etc.)  the  males  have  either  marsupial  sacks  or  hemispheri- 
cal depressions  on  the  abdomen,  in  which  the  ova  laid  by 
the  female  are  hatched.  The  males  also  show  great  at- 
tachment to  their  young."     The  sexes  do  not  commonly 

«*  Yarrell,  '  Hist,  of  British  Fishes,'  vol.  ii.  1836,  pp.  329,  338. 


CiiAP.  XII.]  FISHES.  21 

differ  miicli  in  color;  but  Dr.  (Juntlier  bclievos  that  the 
mule  Hippocampi  are  rather  brighter  than  the  females. 
Tiie  ijemis  Solenostoma,  however,  otfers  a  very  curious  ex- 
ceptional case,"  for  the  female  is  much  more  vividly  col- 
oreil  and  spotted  than  the  male,  and  she  alone  has  a  mar- 
supial sack  and  hatches  the  eggs ;  so  that  the  female  of 
Solenostoma  differs  from  all  the  other  Lophobranchii  in 
this  latter  respect,  and  from  almost  all  other  fishes,  in 
l»eing  more  brightly  colored  than  the  male.  It  is  improb- 
able that  this  remarkable  double  inversion  of  character 
in  till'  female  should  be  an  accidental  coincidence.  As  the 
males  of  several  tishes  which  take  exclusive  cliarge  of  the 
eggs  and  young  are  more  brightly  colored  than  the  fe- 
males, and  as  here  the  female  Solenostoma  takes  the  same 
charge  and  is  brighter  tlian  the  male,  it  might  be  argued 
that  the  conspicuous  colors  of  the  sex  which  is  the  most 
important  of  the  two  for  the  welfare  of  the  offspring  must 
serve,  in  some  manner,  as  a  protection.  But  from  the 
multitude  of  fishes,  the  males  of  which  are  either  perma- 
nently or  periodically  brighter  than  the  females,  but 
whose  life  is  not  at  all  more  important  than  that  of  the 
female  f(»r  the  welfare  of  the  species,  this  view  can  hardly 
be  maintained.  When  we  treat  of  birds  we  shall  meet 
with  analogous  cases  in  which  there  has  been  a  complete 
inversion  of  the  usual  attributes  of  the  two  sexes,  and  we 
shall  then  give  what  appears  to  be  the  probable  explana- 
tion, namely,  that  the  males  have  selected  the  more  at- 
tractive females,  instead  of  the  latter  having  selected,  in 
accordance  with  the  usual  rule  throughout  the  animal 
kingdom,  tlie  more  attractive  males. 

On  the  whole,  we  may  conclude  thai,  with  most  fishes, 
in  which  the  sexes  differ  in  color  or  in  other  ornamental 

**  Dr.  <}iintlicr,  since  piibli.-^hing  an  account  of  tliis  .species  in  'The 
Fishes  of  Zanzibar,'  by  Colonel  I'layfair,  1800,  p.  137,  has  reexamined 
the  specimens,  and  has  given  me  the  above  information. 


22  SEXUAL   SELECTION.  [Part  IL 

characters,  the  males  originally  varied,  with  their  varia- 
tions transmitted  to  the  same  sex,  and  accumulated 
through  sexual  selection  by  attracting  or  exciting  the  fe- 
males. In  many  cases,  however,  such  characters  have 
been  transferred,  either  partially  or  completely,  to  the 
females.  In  other  cases,  again,  both  sexes  have  been  col- 
ored alike  for  the  sake  of  protection  ;  but  in  no  instance 
does  it  appear  that  the  female  alone  has  had  her  colors  or 
other  characters  specially  modified  for  this  purpose. 

The  last  point  which  need  be  noticed  is  that  in  many 
parts  of  the  world  fishes  are  known  to  make  peculiar 
noises,  which  are  described  in  some  cases  as  being  musi- 
cal. Very  little  has  been  ascertained  with  respect  to  the 
means  by  which  such  sounds  are  produced,  and  even  less 
about  their  jjurpose.  The  drumming  of  the  Umbrinas  in 
the  Europeain  seas  is  said  to  be  audible  from  a  depth  of 
twenty  fathoms.  The  fishermen  of  Rochelle  assert  "  that 
the  males  alone  make  the  noise  during  the  spawning-time ; 
and  that  it  is  possible,  by  imitating  it,  to  take  them  with- 
out bait."  "  If  this  statement  is  trustworthy,  we  have  an 
instance  in  this,  the  lowest  class  of  the  Vertcbrata,  of 
what  we  shall  find  prevailing  throughout  the  other  verte- 
bi'ate  classes,  and  which  prevails,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
with  insects  and  spiders  ;  namely,  that  vocal  and  instru- 
mental sounds  so  commonly  serve  as  a  love-call  or  as  a 
love-charm,  that  the  power  of  producing  them  was  proba- 
bly first  developed  in  connection  with  liie  propagation  of 
the  species. 

Amphibians. 

TIrodela. — First  for  the  tailed  amphibians.     The  sexes 
of  salamanders  or  newts  often  difter  much  both  in  color 
and  structure.     In  some  species  prehensile  claws  are  de- 
veloped on  the  fore-legs  of  the  males  during  the  breeding- 
s'" Tlic  Rev.  C.  Kingsley,  in  'Nature,'  Ma.v,  ISVO,  p.  40. 


Chap.  XII.] 


AMPHIBIANS. 


23 


season ;  and  at  this  season  in  the  male  Triton  palmipes 
the  hind-feet  are  provided  with  a  swimming  web,  which  is 
almost  comiiletely  absorbed  during  the  winter;  so  that 
their  feet  then  resemble  those  of  the  female.'*     This  struct- 


FiG.  31.— Triton  cristatiis  (half  natural  eize,  from  Bell's  'British  Eeptiles'). 
Upper  figure,  male  during  the  breeding-season  ;  lower  figure,  female. 

ure  no  doubt  aids  the  male  in  his  eager  search  and  pursuit 
of  the  female.  With  our  common  newts  {Triton  lyunc- 
tatus  and  cristatus)  a  deep,  much  indented  crest  is  devel- 
oped along  the  back  and  tail  of  the  male  during  the  breed- 
ing-season, being  absorbed  during  the  winter.  It  is  not 
furnished,  as  Mr.  St.  George  Mivart  informs  me,  with 
muscles,  and  therefore  cannot  be  used  for  locomotion. 
As  during  the  season  of  courtship  it  becomes  edged  with 
bright  colors,  it  serves,  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt,  as  a 
masculine  ornament.  In  many  species  the  body  presents 
strongly-contrasted  though  lurid  tints  ;  and  these  become 
more  vivid  during  the  breeding-season.  The  male,  for 
instance,  of  our  common  little  newt  {Triton  x>unctatus)  is 
"  brownish  gray  above,  passing  into  yellow  beneath,  which 

33  Bell,  "History  of  British  Reptiles,"  2d  edit.  1849,  pp.  156-159. 


24  SEXUAL   SELECTION.  [Part  IL 

in  tlic  spring  Lecomcs  a  I'icli  bright  orange,  marked  evcry- 
"wliere  with  round  dark  spots."  The  edge  of  the  crest 
also  is  then  tipped  with  V)riglit  red  or  violet.  The  female 
is  usually  of  a  yellowish-brown  color  with  scattered  brown 
dots ;  and  the  lower  surface  is  often  quite  plain."  The 
young  are  obscurely  tinted.  The  ova  are  fertilized  during 
the  act  of  deposition  and  are  not  subsequently  tended  by 
either  parent.  We  may  therefore  conclude  that  the  males 
acquired  their  strongly-marked  colors  and  ornamental  ap- 
pendages through  sexual  selection ;  these  being  trans- 
mitted either  to  the  male  oft'spring  alone  or  to  both  sexes. 
A?mra  or  JBatrachia. — With  many  frogs  and  toads 
the  colors  evidently  serve  as  a  protection,  such  as  the 
bright-green  tints  of  tree-frogs  and  the  obscure  mot- 
tled shades  of  many  terrestrial  species.  The  most  con- 
spicuously-colored toad  which  I  ever  saw,  iiamely,  the 
l^hryniscKS  nigricans,*"  had  the  whole  upjior  surface  of  the 
body  as  black  as  ink,  with  the  soles  of  the  feet  and  parts 
of  the  abdomen  spotted  with  the  brightest  vermilion.  It 
crawled  about  the  bare  sandy  or  open  grassy  plains  of  La 
Plata  under  a  scorching  sun,  and  could  not  fail  to  catch 
the  eye  of  every  passing  creature.  These  colors  may  be 
beneficial  by  making  this  toad  known  to  all  birds  of  prey 
as  a  nauseous  mouthful ;  for  it  is  familiar  to  every  one 
that  these  animals  emit  a  poisonous  secretion,  which 
causes  the  mouth  of  a  dog  to  froth,  as  if  attacked  by  hy- 
drophobia. I  was  the  more  struck  with  the  conspicuous 
colors  of  this  toad,  as  close  by  I  found  a  lizard  [Proctotre- 
tus  multimaculatvs)  which,  Avhen  frightened,  flattened  its 
body,  closed  its  eyes,  and  then  from  its  mottled  tints 
could  hardly  be  distinguishable  fioiu  the  sun-ounding 
sand. 

3»  Bell,  ibid.  pp.  14G,  151. 

*"  '  Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  "  Beagle,"  '  1843.     "  Reptiles,"  by 
Mr.  Bell,  p.  49. 


Chap.  XII.]  AMPHIBIANS.  35 

With  respect  to  sexual  differences  of  color,  Dr.  Giin- 
ther  knows  of  no  striking  instance  with  frogs  or  toads  ; 
yet  he  can  often  distinguish  the  male  from  the  female,  by 
the  tints  of  the  former  being  a  little  more  intense.  Nor 
does  Dr.  Gtinther  know  of  any  striking  difference  in  ex- 
ternal structure  between  tlie  sexes,  excepting  the  promi- 
nences which  become  developed  during  the  breeding-sea- 
son on  the  front-legs  of  the  male,  by  which  he  is  enabled 
to  hold  the  female.  The  Megalophrys  montana'^^  (Fig. 
32)  offers  the  best  case  of  a  certain  amount  of  structural 
difference  between  the  sexes  ;  for  in  the  male  the  tip  of  the 
nose  and  the  eyelids  aro  produced  into  triangular  flaps  of 
skin,  and  there  is-  a  little  black  tubercle  on  the  back — 
characters  which  are  absent,  or  only  feebly  developed,  in 
the  females.  It  is  surprising  that  frogs  and  toads  should 
not  have  acquired  more  strongly-marked  sexual  differ- 
ences ;  for,  though  cold  blooded,  their  passions  are  strong. 
Dr.  Gtinther  informs  me  that  he  has  several  times  found 
an  unfortunate  female  toad  dead  and  smothered  from  hav- 
ing been  so  closely  embraced  ly  three  or  four  males. 

These  animals,  however,  offer  one  interesting  sexual 
difference,  namely,  in  the  musical  powers  possessed  by  the 
males ;  but  to  speak  of  music,  when  applied  to  the  discord- 
ant and  overwhelming  sounds  emitted  by  male  bull-frogs 
and  some  other  species,  seems,  according  to  our  taste,  a 
singularly  inapprojjriate  expression.  Nevertheless  certain 
frogs  sing  in  a  decidedly  pleasing  manner.  Near  Rio  de 
Janeiro  I  used  often  to  sit  in  the  evening  to  listen  to  a 
number  of  little  Hylse,  which,  perched  on  blades  of  grass 
close  to  the  water,  sent  forth  sweet  chirping  notes  in  har- 
mony. The  various  sounds  are  emitted  chiefly  by  the 
males  durmg  the  breeding-season,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
croaking  of  our  common  frog."     In  accordance  with  this 

41  'The  Reptiles  of  India,'  by  Dr.  A.  Giinther,  Ray  Soc.  1864,  p.  413. 

42  Bell,  'History  of  Britis.^  Reptile?,'  1849,  p.  93. 

21 


26 


SRXUAL   SELECTION. 


[Pakt  II. 


fact  the  vocal  organs  of  the  males  are  more  highly  de- 
veloped than  those  of  the  females.  In  some  genera  the 
males  alotoe  are  provided  with  sacs  wliich  open  into  the 
larynx."  For  instance,  in  the  edible  frog  {Rana  esculen- 
ta)  "  the  sacs  are  peculiar  to  the  male.^,  and  become,  when 
filled  with  air  in  tlio  act  of  croaking,  large  globular  blad- 


Fio.  .32.— Mcgalophrys  TOontana.     The  two  left-band  flares,  the  male;  the  two 
right-hand  figures,  the  female. 

ders,  standing  out  one  on  each  side  of  the  head,  near  the 
corners  of  the  mouth."  The  croak  of  the  male  is  thus 
rendered  exceedingly  powerful ;  while  that  of  the  female 
is  only  a  slight  groaning  noise."  The  vocal  organs  differ 
considerably  in  structure  in  the  several  genera  of  the 
family  ;  and  their  development  in  all  cases  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  sexual  selection. 

Reptiles. 
Chelonia.  — Tortoises    and    turtles    do    not '  offer   well- 
marked   sexual  differences.     In  some   species,  the   tail  of 

*■>  .1.  Hishop,  in  '  Toild's  Cyclop,  of  An;it.  and  Thys.'  vol.  iv.  p.  1503. 
«  Bell,  ibid.  pp.  112-114. 


Chap.  XII.J  REPTILES.  37 

tlie  male  is  longer  than  that  of  the  female.  In  some,  the 
plastron  or  lower  surface  of  the  shell  of  the  male  is  slight- 
ly concave  in  relation  to  the  back  of  the  female.  The 
male  of  the  mud-turtle  of  the  United  States  (  Chrysemys 
picta)  has  claws  on  its  front-feet  twice  as  long  as  those 
of  the  female ;  and  these  are  used  when  the  sexes  unite." 
With  the  huge  tortoise  of  the  Galapagos  Islands  {Testudo 
nigra)  the  males  are  said  to  grow  to  a  larger  size  than 
the  females :  during  the  pairing-season,  and  at  no  other 
time,  the  male  utters  a  hoarse,  bellowing  noise,  which  can 
be  heard  at  the  distance  of  more  than  a  hundred  yards ; 
the  female,  on  the  other  hand,  never  uses  her  voice.^° 

Crocodilia. — The  sexes  apparently  do  not  differ  in 
color;  nor  do  I  know  that  the  males  fight  together, 
though  this  is  probable,  for  some  kinds  make  a  prodi 
gious  display  before  the  females.  Bartram*^  describes  the 
male  alligator  as  striving  to  win  the  female  by  splashing 
and  roaring  in  the  midst  of  a  lagoon,  "  swollen  to  an  ex- 
tent ready  to  burst,  with  his  head  and  tail  lifted  up,  he 
spins  or  twirls  round  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  like  an 
Indian  chief  rehearsing  his  feats  of  war."  During  the  sea- 
son of  love,  a  musky  odor  is  emitted  by  the  submaxillary 
glands  of  the  crocodile,  and  pervades  their  haunts." 

Ophidia. — I  have  little  to  say  about  Snakes.  Dr. 
Gtinther  informs  me  that  the  males  are  always  smaller 
than  the  females,  and  generally  have  longer  and  slenderer 
tails  ;  but  he  knows  of  no  other  difference  in  external 
structure.  In  regard  to  color,  Di-.  Gilnther  can  almost  al- 
ways distinguish  the  male  from  the  female  \)j  his  more 

*^  Mr.  C.  J.  Maynard,  '  The  American  Naturalist,'  Dec.  1869,  p.  555. 
*^  See  my  '  Journal  of  Researches  during  the  Yoyage  of  the  "  Bea- 
gle," '  1845,  p.  384. 

«  'Travels  through  Carolina,'  etc.,  1Y91,  p.  128. 

*^  Owen, '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  i.  1866,  p.  615. 


28  SEXUAL  SELECTION.  [Part  II. 

strongly-pronounced  tints ;  thus  tlie  black  zigzag  band  on 
the  back  of  the  male  English  viper  is  more  distinctly  de- 
fined than  in  the  female.  The  difference  is  much  plainer 
in  the  Rattlesnakes  of  North  America,  the  male  of  Avhich, 
as  the  kee2)er  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  showed  me,  can 
instantly  be  distinguished  from  the  female  by  having  more 
lurid  yellow  about  its  whole  body.  In  South  Africa  the 
Ut(cephalus  capensis  presents  an  analogous  difference,  for 
the  female  "  is  never  so  fully  A-ariegated  with  yellow  on 
the  sides,  as  the  male."  "  The  male  of  the  Indian  Dtpsas 
cynodon^  on  the  other  hand,  is  blackish-brown,  with  the 
belly  partly  black,  while  the  female  is  reddish  or  yellowish- 
olive  with  the  belly  either  uniform  yellowish  or  marbled 
with  black.  In  the  Tragops  dispar  of  the  same  country, 
the  male  is  bright  green,  and  the  female  bronze-colored." 
No  doubt  the  colors  of  some  snakes  serve  as  a  protection, 
as  the  green  tints  of  tree-snakes  and  the  various  mottled 
shades  of  the  species  which  live  in  sandy  places ;  biit  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  colors  of  many  kinds,  for  instance 
of  the  common  English  snake  or  viper,  serve  to  conceal 
them ;  and  this  is  still  more  doubtful  with  the  many  for- 
eign species  which  are  colored  with  extreme  elegance. 

During  the  breeding-season  their  anal  scent-glands  are 
in  active  function  ;  "  and  so  it  is  with  the  same  glands  in 
lizards,  and  as  we  have  seen  with  the  submaxillary  glands 
of  crocodiles.  As  the  males  of  most  animals  search  for 
the  females,  these  odoriferous  glands  probably  serve  to 
excite  or  charm  the  female,  rather  than  to  guide  her  to  the 
spot  where  the  male  may  be  found."    Male  snakes,  though 

«  Sir  Andrew  Smith,  '  Zoolog.  of  South  Africa:  Ileptilia,'  1849,  pi.  x. 

'0  Dr.  A.  Giiiither,  'Reptiles  of  British  India,'  Ray  Soc.  18C4,  pp.  304, 
308. 

"  Owen,  'Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  i.  1806,  p.  615. 

"Till"  celebrated  botanist  Schleiden  incidentally  lemarks  ('Uebei 
den  Darwinismus  :   Insere  Zeit,'  I860,  s.   269),  that  Rattlesnakes  use 


Chap.  XII.]  REPTILES.  29 

appearing  so  sluggish,  are  amorous ;  for  many  have  been 
observed  crowding  round  the  same  female,  and  even  round 
the  dead  body  of  a  female.  They  are  not  known  to  fight 
together  from  rivalry.  Their  intellectual  powers  are  higli- 
er  than  might  have  been  anticipated,  ^n  excellent  ob- 
server in  Ceylon,  Mr,  E.  Layard,^^  saw  a  Cobra  thrust  its 
head  through  a  narrow  hole  and  swallow  a  toad.  "  With 
this  encumbrance  he  could  not  witlidraw  himself;  finding 
this,  he  reluctantly  disgorged  the  precious  morsel,  which 
began  to  move  olF;  this  was  too  much  for  snake  philoso- 
phy to  bear,  and  the  toad  was  again  seized,  and  again  was 
the  snake,  after  violent  efforts  to  escape,  compelled  to  part 
with  its  prey.  This  time,  however,  a  lesson  had  been 
learned,  and  the  toad  was  seized  by  one  leg,  withdrawn, 
and  then  swallowed  in  triumph." 

It  does  not,  however,  follow  because  snakes  have  some 
reasoning  power  and  strong  passions,  that  they  should 
likewise  be  endowed  Avitli  sufficient  taste  to  admire  bril- 
liant colors  in  their  partners,  so  as  to  lead  to  the  adorn- 
ment of  the  species  through  sexual  selection.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  difficult  to  account  in  any  other  manner  for  the 
extreme  beauty  of  certain  species ;  for  instance,  of  the 
coral-snakes  of  South  America,  which  are  of  a  rich  red 
with  black  and  yellow  transverse  bands.  I  well  remember 
how  much  surprise  I  felt  at  the  beauty  of  the  first  coral- 
snake  which  I  saw  gliding  across  a  path  in  BraziL  Snakes 
colored  in  this  peculiar  manner,  as  Mr.  Wallace  states  on 
the  authority  of  Dr.  Giinther,"  are  found  nowhere  else  in 

their  rattles  as  a  sexual  call,  by  which  the  two  sexes  find  each  other.  I 
do  not  know  whether  this  suggestion  rests  on  any  direct  observations. 
These  snakes  pair  in  the  Zoological  Gardens,  but  the  keepers  have  never 
observed  that  they  use  their  rattles  at  this  season  more  than  at  any 
other. 

*^  "  Rambles  in  Ceylon,"  '  Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  2d  series 
vol.  ix.  1852,  p.  333. 

"  '  Westminster  Review,'  July  1,  1867,  p.  32. 


30  SEXUAL  SELECTION.  [Paut  IL 

the  world  except  in  South  America,  and  liere  no  less  than 
four  genera  occur.  One  of  these,  Elaps,  is  venomous ;  a 
second  and  widely-distinct  genus  is  doubtfully  venomous, 
and  the  two  others  are  quite  harmless.  The  species  be- 
longing to  these  distinct  genera  inhabit  tlie  same  districts, 
and  are  so  like  each  other,  that  no  one  "  but  a  naturalist 
would  distinguish  the  harmless  from  the  poisonous  kinds." 
Hence,  as  Mr.  Wallace  Ijelieves,  the  innocuous  kinds  have 
probably  acquired  their  colors  as  a  protection,  on  the 
principle  of  imitation;  for  they  would  naturally  be 
thought  dangerous  by  their  enemies.  The  cause,  how- 
ever, of  the  bright  colors  of  the  venomous  Elaps  remains 
to  be  explained,  and  this  may  perhaps  be  sexual  selection. 

Lacertilia.  —  The  males  of  some,  pi-obably  of  many 
kinds  of  lizards,  fight  together  from  rivalry.  Thus  the 
arboreal  Anolis  cristatellus  of  South  America  is  extremely 
pugnacious :  "  During  the  spring  and  early  part  of  the 
summer,  two  adult  males  rarely  meet  without  a  contest. 
On  first  seeing  one  another,  they  nod  their  heads  up  and 
down  three  or  four  times,  at  the  same  time  expanding  the 
frill  or  pouch  beneath  the  throat ;  their  eyes  glisten  with 
rage,  and  after  waving  their  tails  from  side  to  side  for  a 
few  seconds,  as  if  to  gather  energy,  they  dart  at  each 
other  furiously,  rolling  over  and  over,  and  holding  firmly 
with  their  teeth.  The  conflict  generally  ends  in  one  of  the 
combatants  losing  his  tail,  which  is  often  devoured  by  the 
victor."  The  male  of  this  species  is  considerably  larger 
than  the  female ; "  and  this,  as  far  as  Dr.  Gilnther  has 
been  able  to  ascertain,  is  the  general  rule  with  lizards  of 
all  kinds. 

The  sexes  often  difter  greatly  in  various  external  char- 
acters.    The  male  of  the  above-mentioned  Anolis  is  fur- 

"  Mr.  N.  L.  Austen  kept  these  aniraals  alive  for  a  cousiderabic  thue ; 
sec  '  Liuid  and  Water,'  July,  18G7,  p.  9. 


Chap.  XII.] 


REPTILES. 


31 


nishecl  with  a  crest,  which  runs  along  tlie  back  and  tail, 
and  can  be  erected  at  pleasui'e ;  but  of  this  crest  the  female 
does  not  exhibit  a  trace.  In  the  Indian  Cophotis  ceylanica, 
the  female  possesses  a  dorsal  crest,  though  much  less  de- 
veloj)ed  than  in  the  male  ;  and  so  it  is,  as  Dr.  Giinther  in- 
forms me,  with  the  females  of  many  Iguanas,  Chameleons, 
and  other  lizards.  In  some  species,  however,  the  crest  is 
equally  developed  in  both  sexes,  as  in  the  Iguana  tubercu- 
lata.  In  tlie  genus  Sitana,  the  males  alone  ai'e  furnished 
with  a  large  throat-pouch  (Fig.  33),  which  can  be  folded 
up  like  a  fan,  and  is  colored  blue,  black,  and  red;  but 
these  splendid  colors  are  exhibited  only  during  the  pair- 
ing-season. The  female  does  not  possess  even  a  rudiment 
of  this  appendage.  In  the  Anolls  cristatellus,  according 
to  Mr.  Austen,  the  throat-pouch,  which  is  bright  red  mar- 
bled with  yellow,  is  present,  though  in  a  rudimental  con- 
dition, in  the  female.  Again,  in  certain  other  lizards,  both 
sexes  are  equally  well  provided  with  throat-pouches.  Here, 
as  in  so  many  previous 
cases,  we  see,  with  species 
belonging  to  the  same 
group,  the  same  character 
confined  to  the  males,  or 
more  largely  developed  in 
the  males  than  in  the  fe- 
males, or  equally  developed 
in  both  sexes.  The  little 
lizards  of  the  genus  Draco, 
which  glide  through  the 
air  on  their  rib-supported 
parachutes,  and  which  in  the  beauty  of  their  colors  baffle 
description,  are  furnished  with  skinny  appendages  to  the 
throat,  ''  like  the  wattles  of  gallinaceous  birds."  These  be- 
come erected  when  the  animal  is  excited.  They  occur  in 
both  sexes,  but  are  best  developed  in  the  male  when  ar- 


FiG.  33. — Sitana  minor.  Male,  with  tlie 
gular  pouch  expanded  (from  Gun- 
ther's  'Keptiles  of  India'). 


33 


SEXUAL   SELECTION. 


[Part  II. 


rived  at  maturity,  at  whicli  age  the  middle  appendage  is 
Bometimes  twice  as  long  as  the  liead.  ISIost  of  the  species 
likewise  have  a  low  crest  running  along  the  neck  ;  and  this 
is  much  more  developed  in  the  fuli-grown  males  than  in 
the  females  or  young  male?." 

There  are  other  and  much  more  remarkable  differences 
between  the  sexes  of  certain  lizai'd^;.  The  male  of  Cerato- 
j)l(ora  aspera  bears  on  the  extremity  of  his  snout  an 
appendage  half  as  long  as  the  head.  It  is  cylindrical, 
covered  with  scales,  flexible,  and  apparently  capable  of 
erection  :  in  the  female  it  is  quite  rudimental.  In  a  second 
species  of  the  same  genus  a  terminal  scale  forms  a  minute 
horn  on  the  summit  of  the  flexible  appendage  ;  and  in  a 
third  species  ( C.  Stoddartif,  Fig.  34),  the  whole  api)cnd- 

age  is  converted  into  a  horn, 
which  is  usually  of  a  white  color, 
but  assumes  apur])lish  tint  when 
the  animal  is  excited.  In  the 
adult  male  of  this  latter  species 
the  horn  is  half  an  inch  in  length, 
but  is  of  quite  minute  size  in  the 
female  and  in  the  young.  These 
appendages,  as  Dr.  Gunther  has 
remarked  to  me,  may  be  com- 
pared with  the  combs  of  galli- 
naceous birds,  and  apparently 
serve  as  ornaments. 

In  the  genus  Chama^leon 
we  come  to  the  climax  of  dil- 
ference  between  the  sexes.  The  v.]i])vt  ]iart  of  the  skull 
of  the  male  C.  hifurcus  (Fig.  35),  an  inhabitant  of  ]Mada- 

'«  All  these  statements  and  quotations,  in  regard  to  Cophotis,  Fitana, 
and  Draco,  as  well  as  the  followinfi  facts  in  regard  to  Ceratophora,  arc 
taken  from  Dr.  Gunther's  magnificent  work  on  the  'Rc^itiles  of  British 
India,'  Ray  Soc.  1864,  pp.  122,  130,  135. 


Fig.  34.— Ccrntophora  Stoddartii. 
Upper  figure,  male  ;  lower 
figure,  female. 


Chap.  XII.] 


REPTILES. 


33 


gascar,  is  produced  into  two  great,  solid,  bony  projec- 
tions, covered  with  scales  like  the  rest  of  the  head ;  and 
of  this  wonderful  modification  of  structure  the  female  ex- 
hibits only  a  rudiment.  Again,  in  Chamceleon  Owenii 
(Fig.  36),  from  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  the  male  bears 


Fig.  35. — Chamseleon  bifurcus.    Upper  figuie,  male  ;  lower  figure,  female. 


on  his  snout  and  forehead  three  curious  horns,  of  which 
the  female  has  not  a  trace.  These  horns  consist  of  an  ex- 
crescence of  bone  covered  with  a  smooth  sheath,  forming 
part  of  the  general  integuments  of  the  body,  so  that  they 
are  identical  in  structure  with  those  of  a  bull,  goat,  or 
other  sheath-horned  ruminant.     Althouo;h  the  three  horns 


34 


SEXUAL   SELECTION. 


[Part IL 


differ  so  mucli  in  appearance  from  the  two  great  prolon- 
gations of  the  skull  in  C.  bifurcus^  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  they  serve  the  same  general  purpose  in  the  economy 
of  these  two  animals.  The  first  conjecture  which  will 
occur  to  every  one  is  that  they  are  used  by  the  males  for 
fighting  together;  but  Dr.  GUnther,  to  whom  I  am  in- 
debted for  the  foregoing  details,  does  not  believe  that 
such  peaceable  creatures  would  ever  become  pugnacious. 

Hence  we  are 
driven  to  infer 
tliat  these  almost 
monstrous  devia- 
tions of  structure 
serve  as  mascu- 
line ornaments. 

With  many 
kinds  of  lizards, 
the  sexes  differ 
slightly  in  color, 
the  tints  and 
stripes  of  the 
males     being 

Fia.  36.— Chamaelcon  Owenii.    Upper  figure,  male ;       brighter     and 
lower  figure,  female.  '^        -,•     . 

more  distinctly 
defined  than  in  the  females.  This,  for  instance,  is 
the  case  with  the  previously-mentioned  Cophotis  and 
"with  the  Acanthodactylus  cajyensis  of  South  Africa. 
In  a  Cordylus  of  the  latter  coimtry,  the  male  is  either 
much  redder  or  greener  than  the  female.  In  the  Indian 
Calotes  nigrilahris  there  is  a  greater  difference  in  color 
between  the  sexes ;  the  lips  also  of  the  male  are  black, 
while  those  of  the  female  are  green.  In  our  common  little 
vivij>arous  lizard  [Zootoca  tu'vipara),  "  the  umlcr  side  of 
the  body  and  base  of  the  tail  in  the  male  are  bright 
orange,  spotted  with  black ;  in  the  female  these  parts  are 


Chap.  XII.]  REPTILES.  35 

pale  grayish-green  without  spots."  "  We  have  seen  that 
the  males  alone  of  Sitana  possess  a  throat-pouch  ;  and  this 
is  splendidly  tinted  witli  blue,  black,  and  red.  In  the 
Proctotretus  tenuis  of  Chili  the  male  alone  is  mai'ked  with 
spots  of  blue,  green,  and  coppery-red.^^  I  collected  in 
South  America  fourteen  species  of  this  genus,  and  though 
I  neglected  to  record  the  sexes,  I  observed  that  certain 
individuals  alone  were  marked  with  emerald-like  green 
spots,  while  others  had  orange-colored  gorges ;  and  these 
in  both  cases  no  doubt  were  the  males. 

In  the  foregoing  species,  the  males  are  more  brightly 
colored  than  the  females,  but  with  many  lizards  both 
sexes  are  colored  in  the  same  elegant  or  even  magnificent 
manner;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suj^pose  that  such  con- 
spicuous colors  are  protective.  With  some  lizards,  how- 
ever, the  green  tints  no  doubt  serve  for  concealment ;  and 
an  instance  has  already  been  incidently  given  of  one 
species  of  Proctotretus  which  closely  resembles  the  sand 
on  which  it  lives.  On  the  whole  we  may  conclude  with 
tolerable  safety  that  the  beautiful  colors  of  many  lizards, 
as  well  as  various  appendages  and  other  strange  modi- 
fications of  structure,  have  been  gained  by  the  males 
through  sexual  selection  for  the  sake  of  ornament,  and 
have  been  transmitted  either  to  their  male  oft'spring  alone 
or  to  both  sexes.  Sexual  selection,  indeed,  seems  to  have 
played  almost  as  important  a  part  with  reptiles  as  with 
birds.  But  the  less  conspicuous  colors  of  the  females  in 
comparison  with  those  of  the  males  cannot  be  accounted 
for,  as  Mr.  Wallace  believes  to  be  the  case  with  birds,  by 
the  exposure  of  the  females  to  danger  during  incubation. 

s''  Bell,  'History  of  British  Reptiles,'  2d  edit.  1849,  p.  40. 

5S  por  Proctotretus  see  'Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  "Beagle:" 
Reptiles,'  by  Mr.  Bell,  p.  8.  For  the  Lizards  of  South  Africa,  see  '  Zool- 
ogy of  South  Africa :  Reptiles,'  by  Sir  Andrew  Smith,  pis.  25,  39. 
For  the  Indian  Calotes,  see  '  Reptiles  of  British  India,'  by  Dr.  Giinther, 
p.  143. 


36  SEXUAL  SELECTION.  [Pakt  U. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Second AKY  Sexual  Characters  of  Birds. 

Sexual  Differences. — Law  of  Battle. — Special  Weapons. — Vocal  Organs. — 
Instrumental  Music. — Love-Antics  and  Dances.— Decorations,  Penna- 
nent  and  Seasonal. — Double  and  Single  Annual  Moults. — Display  of 
Ornaments  by  the  Males. 

Secondary  sexual  characters  are  more  divei-sified  and 
conspicuous  in  birds,  though  not  perhaps  entailing  more 
important  changes  of  structure,  than  in  any  other  class  of 
animals.  I  shall,  therefore,  treat  the  subject  at  consider- 
able length.  Male  birds  sometimes,  though  rarely,  pos- 
sess special  weapons  for  fighting  with  each  other.  They 
charm  the  females  by  vocal  or  instrumental  music  of  the 
most  varied  kinds.  They  are  ornamented  by  all  sorts  of 
combs,  wattles,  protuberances,  horns,  air-distended  sacs, 
topknots,  naked  shafts,  plumes  and  lengthened  feathers 
gracefully  springing  from  all  parts  of  the  body.  The 
beak  and  naked  skin  about  the  head  and  the  feathers  are 
often  gorgeously  colored.  The  males  sometimes  pay  their 
court  by  dancing,  or  by  fantastic  antics  performed  either 
on  the  ground  or  in  the  air.  In  one  instance,  at  least,  the 
male  emits  a  musky  odor  which  we  may  suppose  serves 
to  charm  or  excite  the  female ;  for  that  excellent  observ- 
er, Mr.  Kanisay,'  says  of  the  Australian  musk-duck  [Jiizi- 
ura  lohata)  that  "  the  smell  which  the  mule  emits  during 
the  summer  months  is  confined  to  that  sex,  and  in  some 
individuals  is  retained  througliotit  the  year;  I  have  never, 
even  in  the  breeding-season,  shot  a  female  Avhich  had  any 

'  '  Ibis,'  vol.  ill.  (new  series)  18G7,  p.  414. 


Chap.  XIIL]  BIRDS.  37 

smell  of  musk."  So  powerful  Is  this  odor  during  the  pair- 
ing-season, that  it  can  be  detected  long  before  the  bird 
can  be  seen."  On  the  whole,  birds  appear  to  be  the  most 
aesthetic  of  all  animals,  excepting  of  course  man,  and  they 
have  nearly  the  same  taste  for  the  beautiful  as  we  have. 
This  is  shown  by  our  enjoyment  of  the  singing  of  birds, 
and  by  our  women,  both  civilized  and  savage,  decking 
their  heads  with  borrowed  plumes,  and  using  gems  which 
are  hardly  more  brilliantly  colored  than  the  naked  skin 
and  wattles  of  certain  birds. 

Before  treating  of  the  characters  with  which  we  are 
here  more  particulafly  concerned,  I  may  just  allude  to 
certain  diiFei*ences  between  the  sexes  which  apparently 
depend  on  differences  in  their  habits  of  life ;  for  such 
cases,  though  conamon  in  the  lower,  are  rare  in  the  higher 
classes.  Two  humming-birds  belonging  to  the  genus 
Eustephanus,  which  inhabit  the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez, 
were  long  thought  to  be  specifically  distinct,  but  are  now 
known,  as  Mr.  Gould  informs  me,  to  be  the  sexes  of  the 
same  species,  and  they  differ  slightly  in  the  form  of  the 
beak.  In  another  genus  of  humming-birds  [Grt/piis),  the 
beak  of  the  male  is  serrated  along  the  margin  and  hooked 
at  the  extremity,  thus  differing  much  from  that  of  the 
female.  In  the  curious  Neomorpha  of  New  Zealand, 
there  is  a  still  wider  difference  in  the  form  of  the  beak ; 
and  Mr.  Gould  has  been  informed  that  the  male  with  his 
"  straight  and  stout  beak  "  tears  off  the  bark  of  trees,  in 
order  that  the  female  may  feed  on  the  uncovered  larvfe 
with  her  weaker  and  more  curved  beak.  Something  of 
the  same  kind  may  be  observed  with  our  goldfinch  ( Car- 
duelis  elegmis),  for  I  am  assured  by  Mr.  J.  Jenner  Weir 
that  the  bird-catchers  can  distinguish  the  males  by  their 
slightly  longer  beaks.  The  flocks  of  males,  as  an  old  and 
trustworthy  bird-catcher  asserted,  are  commonly  found 

2  Gould,  '  Hand-book  to  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  18C5,  vol.  ii.  p.  383. 


38  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  I L 

feeding  on  tl)e  seeds  of  the  teazle  (Dipsaciis)  which  they 
can  reach  with  their  elongated  beaks,  while  the  females 
more  commonly  feed  on  the  seeds  of  the  betony  or 
Scrophularia.  With  a  slight  diiference  of  this  nature  as 
a  foundation,  we  can  see  how  the  beaks  of  the  two  sexes 
might  be  made  to  difter  greatly  through  natural  selection. 
In  all  these  cases,  however,  especially  in  that  of  the  quar- 
relsome humming-birds,  it  is  possible  that  the  differences 
in  the  beaks  may  have  been  first  acquired  by  the  males  in 
relation  to  their  battles,  and  afterward  led  to  slightly 
changed  habits  of  life. 

Law  of  J^attle. — Almost  all  male  birds  are  extremely 
pugnacious,  using  their  beaks,  wings,  and  legs,  for  fighting 
together.  We  see  this  every  spring  with  our  robins  and 
sparrows.  The  smallest  of  all  birds,  namely,  the  hum- 
ming-bird, is  one  of  the  most  quarrelsome.  Mr.  Gosse  ^ 
describes  a  battle,  in  which  a  pair  of  humming-birds 
seized  hold  of  each  other's  beaks,  and  whirled  round  and 
round,  till  they  almost  fell  to  the  ground  ;  and  M.  Montes 
de  Oca,  in  speaking  of  another  genus,  says  that  two  males 
rarely  meet  Avithout  a  fierce  aerial  encounter :  when  kept 
in  cages  "  their  fighting  has  mostly  ended  in  the  splitting 
of  the  tongue  of  one  of  the  two,  which  then  surely  dies 
from  being  unable  to  feed."  *  With  Waders,  the  males 
of  the  common  water-hen  [Gallinida  chloropus)  "when 
pairing,  fight  violently  for  the  females  :  they  stand  nearly 
upright  in  the  water  and  strike  with  their  feet."  Two 
were  seen  to  be  thus  engaged  for  half  an  hour,  imtil  one 
got  hold  of  the  head  of  the  other,  which  would  have  been 
killed  had  not  the  observer  interfered ;  the  female  all  the 
time  looking  on  as  a  quiet  spectator.^   The  males  of  an  allied 

3  Quoted  l>y  Mr.  Gould,  '  Introduction  to  the  Trochilidae,'  1861,  p.  29. 

*  Gould,  ibid.  p.  52. 

'  W.  Thompson,  '  Nat.  Hist,  of  Ireland  :   Birds,'  vol.  ii.  1850,  p.  327. 


Chap.  XIII.J  LAW    OF   BATTLE.  39 

bird  {Gallicrex  cristatus),  as  Mr.  Blyth  informs  me,  are 
one-third  larger  than  the  females,  and  are  so  pugnacious 
during  the  breeding-season,  that  they  are  kept  by  the 
natives  of  Eastern  Bengal  for  the  sake  of  fighting. 
Various  other  birds  are  kept  in  India  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, for  instance,  the  Bulbuls  [Pycnonotus  hcBmorrhous) 
which  "  fight  with  great  spirit."  * 

The  polygamous  Ruif  {^Machetes  pugnax.  Fig.  37)  is 
notorious  for  his  extreme  pugnacity ;  and  in  the  spring, 
the  males,  which  ai'e  considerably  larger  than  the  females, 
congregate  day  after  day  at  a  particular  spot,  where  the 
females  propose  to  lay  their  eggs.  The  fowlers  discover 
these  spots  by  the  turf  being  trampled  somewhat  bare. 
Here  they  fight  very  much  like  game-cocks,  seizing  each 
other  with  their  beaks  and  striking  with  their  wings.  The 
great  rufl^"  of  feathers  round  the  neck  is  then  erected,  and 
according  to  Colonel  Montagu  "  sweeps  the  ground  as  a 
shield  to  defend  the  more  tender  parts  ;  "  and  this  is  the 
only  instance  known  to  me  in  the  case  of  birds,  of  any 
structure  serving  as  a  shield.  The  rufi"  of  feathers,  how- 
ever, from  its  varied  and  rich  colors  pi-obably  serves  in  chief 
part  as  an  ornament.  Like  most  pugnacious  birds,  they 
seem  always  ready  to  fight,  and  when  closely  confined 
often  kill  each  other;  but  Montagu  observed  that  their 
pugnacity  becomes  greater  during  the  sprmg,  when  the 
long  feathers  on  their  necks  are  fully  developed ;  and  at 
this'period  the  least  movement  by  any  one  bird  provokes 
a  general  battle.'  Of  the  pugnacity  of  web-footed  birds, 
two  instances  will  suffice  :  in  Guiana  "  bloody  fights  occur 
during  the  breeding-season  between  the  males  of  the  wild 
musk-duck  ( Gairina  moschata) ;  and  where  these  fights 
have  occurred  the  river  is  covered  for  some  distance  with 

*  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  1863,  vol.  ii.  p.  96 

'  Macgillivray,  '  Hist.  Brit.  Birds,'  vol.  iv.  1852,  pp.  I'Z'T-lSl. 


} 


40 


SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Pakt  II 


feathers."  *     Birds  which  seem  ill-adapted  for  fighting  en- 
gage in  fierce  conflicts ;  thus  with  the  pelican  the  stronger 


*  Sir  R.   Schomburgk,   in   '  Journal  of  R.   Geograph.  Soc'  vol.  xiii. 
1843,  p.  31. 


Chap.  XIII.]  LAW   OF   BATTLE.  41 

males  drive  away  the  weaker  ones,  snapping  with  their 
huge  beaks  and  giving  heavy  blows  with  their  wings. 
Male  snipes  fight  together,  "tugging  and  pushing  each 
other  with  their  bills  in  the  most  curious  manner  miagi- 
nable."  Some  few  species  are  believed  never  to  fight ;  this 
is  the  case,  according  to  Audubon,  with  one  of  the  wood- 
peckers of  the  United  States  {Picus  auratus),  although 
"  the  hens  are  followed  by  even  half  a  dozen  of  their  gay 
suitors."  ' 

The  males  of  many  birds  are  larger  than  the  females, 
and  this  no  doubt  is  an  advantage  to  them  in  their  bat- 
tles with  their  rivals,  and  has  been  gained  through  sexiial 
selection.  The  diiference  in  size  between  the  two  sexes  is 
carried  to  an  extreme  point  in  several  Australian  species ; 
thus  the  male  musk-duck  (Biziura)  and  the  male  Cinclo- 
ramphus  cruralis  (allied  to  our  pipits)  are  by  measure- 
ment actually  twice  as  large  as  their  respective  females.'" 
With  many  other  bii'ds  the  females  are  larger  than  the 
males ;  and  as  formerly  remarked,  the  explanation  often 
given,  namely,  that  the  females  have  most  of  the  work  in 
feeding  their  young,  will  not  suffice.  In  some  few  cases, 
as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  the  females  apparently  have  ac- 
quired their  greater  size  and  strength  for  the  sake  of  con- 
quering other  females  and  obtaining  possession  of  the 
males. 

The  males  of  many  gallinaceous  birds,  especially  of 
the  polygamous  kinds,  are  furnished  with  special  weapons 
for  fighting  with  their  rivals,  namely  spurs,  which  can  be 
used  with  fearful  eifect.  It  has  been  recorded  by  a  trust- 
worthy writer"   that  in   Derbyshire  a  kite  struck  at  a 

*  '  Ornithological  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  191.  For  pelicans  and  snipes, 
see  vol.  iii.  pp.  381,  4*77. 

"*  Gould,  '  Hand-book  of  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  p.  395 ;  vol.  ii.  p. 
383. 

"  Mr.  Hewitt  m  the  '  Poultry  Book  by  Tegetmeier,'  1866,  p.  137. 


42  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIHDS.  [Part  IL 

gamc-hcn  accompanie<l  by  her  cliickons,  wlicn  the  cock 
rushed  to  the  rescue  and  drove  his  spur  right  through  the 
eye  and  skull  of  the  aggressor.  The  spur  -was  with  diffi- 
culty drawn  from  the  skull,  and  as  the  kite  though  dead 
retained  liis  grasp,  the  two  birds  were  firmly  locked  to- 
gether ;  but  the  cock  when  disentangled  was  very  little 
injured.  The  invincible  courage  of  the  game-cock  is  noto- 
rious :  a  gentleman  who  long  ago  witnessed  the  following 
brutal  scene,  told  me  that  a  bird  had  both  its  legs  broken 
by  some  accident  in  the  cockpit,  and  the  owner  laid  a 
wager  that  if  the  legs  could  be  spliced  so  that  the  bird 
could  stand  upright,  he  w^ould  continue  fighting.  This 
w^as  effected  on  the  spot,  and  the  bird  fought  with  un- 
daunted courage  until  he  received  his  death-stroke.  In 
Ceylon  a  closely-allied  and  wild  species,  the  Gallus  Stan- 
leyi,  is  known  to  fight  desperately  "in  defence  of  his 
seraglio,"  so  that  one  of  the  combatants  is  frequently 
found  dead."  An  Indian  yiavtridge  (Orfi/(/or}iis gidaris), 
the  male  of  which  is  furnished  with  strong  and  sharp 
spurs,  is  so  quarrelsome,  "  that  the  scars  of  former  fights 
disfigure  the  breast  of  almost  every  bird  you  kill."  " 

The  males  of  almost  all  gallinaceous  birds,  even  those 
which  are  not  furnished  with  spurs,  engage  during  the 
breeding-season  in  fierce  conflicts.  The  Capercailzie  and 
Blackcock  {Tetrao  ^irogallvs  and  T.  tetri.r),  which  are 
both  polygamists,  have  regular  ai)pointed  places,  where 
during  many  weeks  they  congregate  in  numbers  to  fight 
together  and  to  display  their  charms  before  the  females. 
M.  W,  Kowalevsky  informs  me  that  in  Russia  he  has  seen 
the  snow  all  bloody  on  the  arenas  where  the  Capercailzie 
have  fought ;  and  the  Blackcocks  "make  the  feathers  fly 
in  every  direction,"  when  several  "engage  in  a  battle 
royal."     The  elder  Brehm  gives  a  curious  account  of  the 

'*  Layard,  'Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  xiv.  1851,  p.  63. 
'^  Jcrdon,  '  Birds  of  hulia,'  vol.  iii.  p.  574. 


Chap.  XIII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  43 

Balz,  as  the  love-dance  and  love-song  of  the  Blackcock  is 
called  in  Germany.  The  bird  utters  almost  continuously 
the  most  strange  noises  :  "  He  holds  his  tail  up  and  spreads 
it  out  like  a  fan,  he  lifts  up  his  head  and  neck  with  all  the 
feathers  erect,  and  stretches  his  wings  from  the  body. 
Then  he  takes  a  few  jumps  in  different  directions,  some- 
times in  a  circle,  and  presses  the  under  part  of  his  beak  so 
hard  against  the  ground  that  the  chin-feathers  are  rubbed 
off.  During  these  movements  he  beats  his  wings  and 
turns  round  and  round.  The  more  ardent  he  grows  the 
more  lively  he  becomes,  vintil  at  last  the  bird  appears  like 
a  frantic  creature."  At  such  times  the  blackcocks  are  so 
absorbed  that  they  become  almost  blind  and  deaf,  but  less 
so  than  the  capercailzie :  hence  bird  after  bird  may  be 
shot  on  the  same  spot,  or  even  caught  by  the  hand. 
After  performing  these  antics  the  males  begin  to  fight : 
and  the  same  blackcock,  in  order  to  prove  his  strength 
over  several  antagonists,  will  visit  in  the  course  of  one 
morning  several  Balz-places,  which  remain  the  same  dur- 
ing successive  years." 

The  peacock  with  his  long  train  appears  more  like  a 
dandy  than  a  warrior,  but  he  sometimes  engages  in  fierce 
contests :  the  Rev.  W.  Darwin  Fox  informs  me  that  two 
peacocks  became  so  excited  while  fighting  at  some  little 
distance  from  Chester,  that  they  flew  over  the  wliole  city, 
still  fighting,  until  they  alighted  on  the  top  of  St.  John's 
tower. 

The  spur,  in  those  gallinaceous  birds  which  are  thus 
provided,  is  generally  single ;  but  Polyplectron  (see  Fig.  51, 
p.  90)  has  two  or  more  on  each  leg ;  and  one  of  the  Blood 
pheasants  {Ithaginis  cruentus)  has  been  seen  with  five 
spurs.     The  spurs  are  generally  confined  to  the  male,  be- 

•*  Brehm,  'Illust.  Thierleben,'  ISGY,  B.  iv.  s.  351.  Some  of  the  fore- 
going statements  are  taken  from  L.  Lloyd,  'The  Game-Birds  of  Sweden,' 
etc.,  1867,  p.  79. 


44  SEXUAL  SELECTION :    BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

ing  represented  by  mere  knobs  or  rudiments  in  the  female ; 
but  the  females  of  the  Java  peacock  {Pavo  rmiticiis)  and, 
as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Blyth,  of  the  small  fire-backed 
j)hcasant  {^Eiqolocainus  erythrojjthahnns)  possess  spurs. 
In  Gallopordix  it  is  usual  for  the  males  to  have  two  spurs, 
and  for  the  females  to  have  only  one  on  each  leg."  Hence 
spurs  may  safely  be  considered  as  a  masculine  character, 
though  occasionally  transferred  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
to  the  females.  Like  most  other  secondary  sexual  charac- 
ters, the  spurs  are  highly  variable  both  in  number  and  de- 
velopment in  the  same  species. 

Various  birds  have  spurs  on  their  wings.  But  the 
Egyptian  goose  ( Chenalopex  ^gyptiacus)  has  only  "  bare 
obtuse  knobs,"  and  these  jirobably  show  us  the  first  steps 
by  which  true  spurs  have  been  developed  in  other  allied 
birds.  In  the  spur-winged  goose  {Plectropterus  gamben- 
sis),  the  males  have  much  larger  spurs  than  the  females  ; 
and  they  use  them,  as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Bartlett,  in 
fighting  together,  so  that,  in  this  case,  the  wing-spurs  serve 
as  sexual  weapons ;  but  according  to  Livingstone,  they  are 
chiefly  used  in  the  defence  of  the  young.  The  Palamedea 
(Fig.  38)  is  armed  with  a  pair  of  spurs  on  each  wing  ;  and 
these  are  such  formidable  weapons  that  a  single  blow  has 
driven  a  dog  howling  away.  But  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  spurs  in  this  case,  or  in  that  of  some  of  the  spur-winged 
rails,  are  larger  in  the  male  than  in  the  female."  In  cer- 
tain plovers,  however,  the  wing- spurs  must  be  considered 
as  a  sexual  character.  Thus  in  the  male  of  om-  common 
peewit  (  Vatiellus  cristatus)  the  tubercle  on  the  shoulder 

'*  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India:'  on  Ithagini.^,  vol.  iii.  p.  523;  on  Gallo- 
perdix,  p.  541. 

'"For  the  Egyptian  goose,  see  Macgillivray,  'British  Birds,'  vol.  iv. 
p.  639.  For  Plectropterus,  '  Livingstone's  Travels,'  p.  254.  For  Pala- 
medea, Brehm's  '  Thierlcbcn,'  B.  iv.  s.  740.  See  also  on  this  bird  Azara^ 
'  Voyages  dans  I'Am^rique  in6rid.'  torn.  iv.  1809,  pp.  179,  263. 


Chap.  XIII.] 


LAW   OF  BATTLE. 


45 


of  the  wing  becomes  more  prominent  during  the  breeding- 
season,  and  the  males  are  known  to  fight  together.     In 


Fig.  38.— Palamedea  cornuta  (from  Brehm),  showing  the  dooble-wing-Bpiirs, 
and  the  filament  on  the  head. 


46  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

some  species  of  Lol)ivanellus  a  similar  tubercle  becomes 
developed  during  the  breeding-season  "  into  a  short  horny 
spur."  In  the  Australian  L.  lobatus  both  sexes  have  spurs, 
but  these  are  much  larger  in  the  males  than  in  the  females. 
In  an  allied  bird,  the  Iloplopterus  armatus,  the  spurs  do  not 
increase  in  size  during  the  breeding-season  ;  but  these  birds 
have  been  seen  in  Egypt  to  light  together,  in  the  same 
manner  as  our  peewits,  by  turning  suddenly  in  the  air  and 
striking  sideways  at  each  other,  sometimes  with  a  fatal 
result.     Thus  also  they  drive  away  other  enemies." 

The  season  of  love  is  that  of  battle  ;  but  the  males  of 
some  birds,  as  of  the  game-fowl  and  ruff,  and  even  the 
young  males  of  the  wild-turkey  and  grouse,"  are  ready 
to  fight  whenever  they  meet.  The  jiresence  of  the  female 
is  the  teterrima  belli  causa.  The  Bengali  baboos  make  the 
pretty  little  males  of  the  amadavat  [lUstrelda  amandava) 
fight  together  by  placing  three  small  cages  in  a  row,  with 
a  female  in  the  middle ;  after  a  little  time  the  two  males 
are  turned  loose,  and  immediately  a  desperate  battle  en- 
sues." When  many  males  congregate  at  the  same  ap- 
pointed spot  and  fight  together,  as  in  the  case  of  grouse 
and  various  other  birds,  they  are  generally  attended  by 
the  females,""  which   afterward  pair  with  the  victorious 

"  See,  on  our  peewit,  Mr.  R.  Carr  in  '  Land  and  Water,'  Aug.  8, 
1868,  p.  46.  In  regard  to  Lobivanellus,  see  Jei"don's  'Birds  of  India,' 
vol.  iii.  p.  647,  and  Gould's  '  Hand-book  of  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  ii.  p. 
220.  For  the  Iloplopterus,  see  Mr.  Allen  in  the  'Ibis,' vol.  v.  1863, 
p.  156. 

'*  Audubon,  'Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  ii.  p.  492;  vol.  i.  pp.  4-13. 

'»  Mr.  Blyth,  'Land  and  Water,'  1867,  p.  212. 

'"  Richardson,  on  Tetrao  umbellus,  'Fauna  Bor.  Amer. :  Birds,'  1831, 
p.  343.  L.  Lloyd,  'Game-Birds  of  Sweden,'  1857,  pp.  22,  7'.),  on  the 
capercailzie  and  blackcock.  Brehm,  however,  asserts  ('Tliierleben,* 
etc.,  B.  iv.  s.  352)  that  in  Germany  the  gray-hens  do  not  generally  attend 
the  Balzen  of  the  blao'keocks,  but  this  is  an  exception  to  the  common 
rule ;  possibly  the  hen^  »»ay  lie  hidden  in  the  surrounding  bushes,  as  is 


Chap.  XIII.]  LAW    OF   BATTLE.  47 

combatants.  But  in  some  cases  the  pairing  precedes  in- 
stead of  succeeding  the  combat :  thus,  according  to  Audu- 
bon,^^  several  males  of  the  Virginian  goat-sucker  ( Caprl- 
mulgus  Virginiayius)  "court,  in  a  highly-entertaining 
manner,  the  female,  and  no  sooner  has  she  made  her 
choice,  than  her  approved  gives  chase  to  all  intruders, 
and  drives  them  beyond  his  dominions,"  Generally  the 
males  try  with  all  their  power  to  drive  away  or  kill  their 
rivals  before  they  pair.  It  does  not,  however,  appear  that 
the  females  invariably  prefer  the  victorious  males.  I  have 
indeed  been  assured  by  M.  W.  Kowalevsky  that  the  female 
capercailzie  sometimes  steals  away  with  a  young  male  who 
has  not  dared  to  enter  the  arena  with  the  older  cocks ;  in 
the  same  manner  as  occasionally  hajjpens  with  the  does 
of  the  red-deer  in  Scotland.  When  two  males  contend  in 
presence  of  a  single  female,  the  victor,  no  doubt,-  common- 
ly gains  his  desire ;  but  some  of  these  battles  are  caused 
by  wandering  males  trying  to  distract  the  peace  of  an  al- 
ready mated  pair.^^ 

Even  with  the  most  pugnacious  species  it  is  probable 
that  the  pairing  does  not  depend  exclusively  on  the  mere 
strength  and  coui'age  of  the  male :  for  such  males  are  gen- 
erally decorated  with  various  ornaments,  which  often 
become  more  brilliant  during  the  breeding-season,  and 
which  are  sedulously  displayed  before  the  females.  The 
males  also  endeavor  to  charm  or  excite  their  mates  by 
love-notes,  songs,  and  antics ;  and  the  courtship  is,  in 
many  instances,  a  prolonged  affair.  Hence  it  is  not  prob- 
able that  the  females  are  indifferent  to  the  charms  of  the 
opposite  sex,  or   that   they  are   invariably  compelled  to 

known  to  be  the  case  with  the  gray-hens  in  Scandinavia,  and  with  other 
species  in  North  America. 

^'  '  Ornithological  Biography,'  vol.  ii.  p.  2*75. 

22  Brehm,  '  Thierleben,'  etc.,  B.  iv.  ISC'?,  p.  990.  Audubon,  'Ornith. 
Biography,'  vol.  ii.  p.  492. 


48  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

yield  to  the  victorious  males.  It  is  more  probable  that 
tlic  females  are  excited,  either  before  or  after  the  conflict, 
by  certain  males,  and  thus  unconsciously  prefer  them.  In 
the  case  of  Tctrao  umhellas,  a  good  observer  "^  goes  so  far 
as  to  believe  that  the  battles  of  the  males  "  are  all  a  sham, 
performed  to  show  themselves  to  the  greatest  advantage 
before  the  admiring  females  who  assemble  around ;  for  I 
have  never  been  able  to  find  a  maimed  hero,  and  seldom 
more  than  a  broken  feather."  I  shall  have  to  recur  to 
this  subject,  but  I  may  here  add  that  with  the  Tetrao 
cupido  of  the  United  States,  about  a  score  of  males  assem- 
ble at  a  particular  spot,  and  strutting  about  make  the 
whole  air  resound  with  their  extraordinary  noises.  At 
the  first  answer  from  a  female,  the  males  begin  to  fight 
furiously,  and  the  weaker  give  way ;  but  then,  according 
to  Audubon,  both  the  victors  and  vanquished  search  for 
the  female,  so  that  the  females  must  either  then  exert  a 
choice,  or  the  battle  must  be  renewed.  So,  again,  with 
one  of  the  Field-starlings  of  the  United  States  {Stumella 
ludoviciana)  the  males  engage  in  fierce  conflicts,  "  but  at 
the  sight  of  a  female  they  all  fly  after  her  as  if  mad."  "* 

Vocal  and  Instniinental  Music. — With  birds  the  voice 
serves  to  express  various  emotions,  such  as  distress,  fear, 
anger,  triumph,  or  mere  happiness.  It  is  a])parently 
sometimes  used  to  excite  terror,  as  with  the  hissing  noise 
made  by  some  nestling  birds.  Audubon  '*  relates  that  a 
night-heron  {Ardea  nycticorax,  Linn.),  which  he  kept 
tame,  used  to  hide  itself  when  a  cat  approached,  and  then 
"  suddenly  start  \ip  uttering  one  of  the  most  frightful  cries, 
apparently  enjoying   the   cat's   alarm   and   fliglit."     The 

«3  '  Land  and  Water,'  July  25,  1868,  p.  14. 

'^^  Audubon's  '  Ornitliolop.  Biography ; '  on  Tetrao  cupido,  vol.  ii.  p. 
492;  on  the  Stumus,  vol.  ii.  p.  219. 

**  '  Oniitbological  Biography,'  vol.  v.  p.  GOl. 


Chap.  XIII.]  VOCAL   MUSIC.  '  49 

common  domestic  cock  clucks  to  the  hen,  and  the  hen  to 
her  chickens,  when  a  dainty  morsel  is  found.  The  hen, 
when  she  has  laid  an  egg,  "  repeats  the  same  note  very 
often,  and  concludes  with  the  sixth  above,  which  she 
holds  for  a  longer  time ; "  °°  and  thus  she  expresses  her 
joy.  Some  social  birds  apparently  call  to  each  other  for 
aid ;  and  as  they  flit  from  tree  to  tree,  the  flock  is  kept 
together  by  chirp  answering  chirp.  During  the  noctur- 
nal migrations  of  geese  and  other  water-fowl,  sonorous 
clangs  from  the  van  may  be  heard  in  the  darkness  over- 
head, answered  by  clangs  in  the  rear.  Certain  cries 
serve  as  danger-signals,  which,  as  the  sportsman  knows  to 
his  cost,  are  well  understood  by  the  same  species  and  by 
others.  The  domestic  cock  crows,  and  the  humming-bird 
chirps,  in  triumph  over  a  defeated  rival.  The  true  song, 
however,  of  most  birds  and  various  strange  cries  are 
chiefly  uttered  during  the  breeding-season,  and  serve  as  a 
charm,  or  merely  as  a  call-note,  to  the  other  sex. 

Naturalists  are  much  divided  with  respect  to  the  object 
of  the  singing  of  birds.  Few  more  careful  observers  ever 
lived  than  Montagu,  and  he  maintained  that  the  "  males 
of  song-birds  and  of  many  others  do  not  in  general  search 
for  the  female,  but,  on  the  contrary,  their  business  in  the 
spring  is  to  perch  on  some  conspicuous  spot,  breathing 
out  their  full  and  amorous  notes,  which,  by  instinct,  the 
female  knoAVS,  and  repairs  to  the  spot  to  choose  her  mate."  ^^ 
Mr.  Jenner  Weir  informs  me  that  this  is  certainly  the  case 
with  the  nightingale.  Bechstein,  who  kept  birds  during 
his  whole  life,  asserts  that  "  the  female  canary  always 
chooses  the  best  singer,  and  that  in  a  state  of  nature  the 
female  finch  selects  that  male  out  of  a  hundred  whose 
notes  please  her  most."  ^'     There  can  be  no  doubt   that 

2^  The  Eon.  Daines  Barrington,  'Philosoph.  Transact.'  1773,  p.  252. 
^T  'Ornithological  Dictionary,'  1833,  p.  475. 

^*  '  Naturgeschichte  der  Stubenvogel,'  1840,  s.  4.    Mr.  Harrison  Weir 
3 


50  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

birds  closely  attend  to  each  otlier's  song.  Mr.  Weir  lias 
told  me  of  the  ease  of  a  bullfinch  which  had  been  taught 
to  pipe  a  German  waltz,  and  who  was  so  good  a  performer 
that  he  cost  ten  guineas ;  when  this  bird  was  first  intro- 
duced into  a  room  where  other  birds  were  kept  and  he 
began  to  sing,  all  the  others,  consisting  of  about  twenty 
linnets  and  canaries,  ranged  themselves  on  the  nearest 
side  of  their  cages,  and  listened  with  the  greatest  interest 
to  the  new  performer.  Many  naturalists  believe  that  the 
singing  of  birds  is  almost  exclusively  "  the  effect  of  rival- 
ry and  emulation  "  and  not  for  the  sake  of  charming  their 
mates.  This  was  the  opinion  of  Daines  Barrington  and 
White  of  Selborne,  who  both  especially  attended  to  this 
subject."  Barrington,  however,  admits  that  "  superiority 
in  song  gives  to  birds  an  amazing  ascendency  over  others, 
as  is  well  known  to  bird-catchers." 

It  is  certain  that  there  is  an  intense  degree  of  rivalry 
between  the  males  in  their  sinccinor.  Bird-fanciers  match 
their  birds  to  see  which  will  sing  longest ;  and  I  was  told 
by  Mr.  Yarrell  that  a  first-rate  bird  will  sometimes  sing 
till  he  drops  down  almost  dead,  or,  according  to  Bech- 
stein,^"  quite  dead  from  rupturing  a  vessel  in  the  lungs. 
Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  male  birds,  as  I  hear  from 
Mr.  Weir,  often  die  suddenly  during  the  season  of  song. 
That  the  habit  of  singing  is  sometimes  quite  independent 
of  love  is  clear,  for  a  sterile  hybrid  canary-bird  has  been 
described"  as  singing  while  viewing  itself  in  a  mirror, 
and  then  dashing  at  its  own  image ;  it  likewise  attacked 
with  fury  a  female  canary  wiien  put  into  the  same  cage. 

likewise  writes  to  me :  "I  am  informed  that  the  best  singing  males  gen- 
erally  get  a  mate  first  when  they  are  bred  in  the  same  room." 

*'  'Philosophical  Transactions,'  1773,  p.  263.  White's  'Natural  His- 
tory of  Selborne,'  vol.  i.  1825,  p.  246. 

«>  '  Naturges.  der  Stubenvogel,'  1840,  s.  252. 

s'  Mr.  Bold,  'Zoologist,'  1843-'44,  p.  659. 


Chap.  XIII.]  VOCAL   MUSIC.  51 

The  jealousy  excited  by  the  act  of  singing  is  constantly 
taken  advantage  of  by  bird-catchers;  a  male,  in  good 
song,  is  hidden  and  protected,  Avhile  a  stuiFed  bird,  sur- 
rounded by  limed  twigs,  is  exjjosed  to  view.  In  this  man- 
ner a  man,  as  Mr.  Weir  informs  me,  has  caught,  in  the 
course  of  a  single  day,  fifty,  and  in  one  instance  seventy, 
male  chaffinches.  The  power  and  inclination  to  sing  difier 
so  greatly  with  birds  that  although  the  price  of  an  ordi- 
nary male  chaffinch  is  only  sixpence,  Mr.  Weir  saw  one 
bird  for  which  the  bird-catcher  asked  three  pounds  ;  the 
test  of  a  really  good  singer  being  that  it  will  continue  to 
sing  while  the  cage  is  swung  round  the  owner's  head. 

That  birds  should  sing  from  emulation  as  well  as  for 
the  sake  of  charming  the  female,  is  not  at  all  incompatible ; 
and,  indeed,  might  have  been  exj^ected  to  go  together, 
like  decoration  and  pugnacity.  Some  authors,  however, 
argue  that  the  song  of  the  male  cannot  serve  to  charm  the 
female,  because  the  females  of  some  few  sjiecies,  such  as 
the  canary,  robin,  lark,  and  bullfinch,  esj^ecially,  as  Bech- 
stein  remarks,  when  in  a  state  of  widowhood,  pour  forth 
fairly  melodious  strains.  In  some  of  these  cases  the  habit 
of  singing  maybe  in  part  attributed  to  the  females  having 
been  highly  fed  and  confined,^"  for  this  disturbs  all  the 
usual  functions  connected  with  the  reproduction  of  the 
species.  Many  instances  have  already  been  given  of  the 
jjartial  transference  of  secondary  masculine  characters  to 
the  female,  so  that  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  the  fe- 
males of  some  species  should  possess  the  power  of  song. 
It  has  also  been  argued,  tliat  the  song  of  the  male  cannot 
serve  as  a  charm,  because  the  males  of  certain  species,  for 
instance,  of  the  robin,  sing   during  the  autumn.'^     But 

32  D.  Barrington,  'Phil.  Transact.'  IIIS,  p.  262.  Bechstein,  '  Stu- 
benvogel,'  1840,  s.  4. 

^^  This  is  likewise  the  case  with  the  watei'-ouzel,  se«  Mr.  Hepburn  in 
the  'Zoologist,'  1845-1846,  p.  1068. 


52  SEXUAL   SELECTION':   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

nothing  is  more  common  than  for  animals  to  take  pleasure 
in  practising  whatever  instinct  they  follow  at  other  times 
for  some  real  good.  IIow  often  do  we  see  birds  which  fly 
easily,  gliding  and  sailing  through  the  air  obviously  for 
pleasure  !  The  cat  plays  with  the  captured  mouse,  and 
the  cormorant  with  the  captured  fish.  The  Aveaver-bird 
(Ploceus),  when  confined  in  a  cage,  amuses  itself  by  neat- 
ly weaving  blades  of  grass  between  the  wires  of  its  cage. 
Birds  which  habitually  fight  during  the  breeding-season 
are  generally  ready  to  fight  at  all  times ;  and  the  males  of 
the  capercailzie  sometimes  hold  their  halzens  or  leks  at  the 
usual  place  of  assemblage  during  the  autumn."  Hence  it 
is  not  at  all  surprising  that  male  birds  should  continue 
singing  for  theii*  own  amusement  after  the  season  for 
courtship  is  over. 

Singing  is  to  a  certain  extent,  as  shown  in  a  previous 
chapter,  an  art,  and  is  much  improved  by  practice.  Birds 
can  be  taught  various  tunes,  and  even  the  unmelodioiis 
sparrow  has  learned  to  sing  like  a  linnet.  They  acquire 
the  song  of  their  foster-parents  "  and  sometimes  that  of 
their  neighbors."  All  the  common  songsters  belong  to 
the  Order  of  Insessores,  and  their  vocal  organs  are  much 
more  complex  than  those  of  most  other  birds ;  yet  it  is  a 
singular  fact  that  some  of  the  Insessores,  such  as  ravens, 
crows,  and  magpies,  possess  the  proper  apparatus,"  though 
they  never  sing  and  do  not  naturally  modulate  their  voices 
to  any  great  extent.  Hunter  asserts^*  that  with  the  true 
songsters  the  muscles  of  the  larynx  are  stronger  in  the 

"  L.  Lloyd,  '  Game-Birds  of  Sweden,'  1867,  p.  25. 

*'  Barrington,  ibid.  p.  264.     Bechstein,  ibid.  s.  5. 

**  Durcau  de  la  Malle  gives  a  curious  instance  ('  Annales  des  Sc.  Nat.' 
3d  scries,  Zoolog.  torn.  x.  p.  118)  of  some  wild  blackbirds  in  his  garden 
in  Paris  which  naturally  learned  from  a  caged  bird  a  republican  air. 

*'  Bishop,  in  '  Todd's  Cyclop,  of  Anat.  and  Phys.'  vol.  iv.  p.  1496. 

*'  As  stated  by  Barrington  Id  '  Philosoph.  Transact.'  1773,  p.  262. 


Chap.  XIIL]  VOCAL   MUSIC.        .  53 

males  than  in  the  females ;  but  with  this  slight  exception 
there  is  no  difference  in  the  vocal  organs  of  the  two  sexes, 
although  the  males  of  most  species  sing  so  much  better 
and  more  continuously  than  the  females. 

It  is  remarkable  that  only  small  birds  properly  sing. 
The  Australian  genus  Menura,  however,  must  be  ex- 
cepted; for  the  Menura  Alberti,  which  is  about  the  size  of 
a  half-grown  turkey,  not  only  mocks  other  birds,  but  "  its 
own  whistle  is  exceedingly  beautiful  and  vai-ied."  The 
males  congregate  and  form  "  corrohorying  places,"  where 
they  sing,  raising  and  spreading  their  tails  like  peacocks 
and  drooping  their  wings. '°  It  is  also  remarkable  that 
the  birds  which  sing  are  rarely  decorated  with  brilliant 
colors  or  other  ornaments.  Of  our  British  birds,  except- 
ing the  bullfinch  and  goldfinch,  the  best  songsters  are 
plain-colored.  The  king-fisher,  bee-eater,  roller,  hoopee, 
woodpeckers,  etc.,  utter  harsh  ci'ies ;  and  the  brilliant 
birds  of  the  tropics  are  hardly  ever  songsters,"  Hence 
bright  colors  and  the  power  of  song  seem  to  replace  each 
other.  We  can  perceive  that  if  the  plumage  did  not  vary 
in  brightness,  or  if  bright  colors  were  dangerous  to  the 
species,  other  means  would  have  to  be  employed  to  charm 
the  females;  and  the  voice  being  rendered  melodious 
would  ofier  one  such  means. 

In  some  birds  the  vocal  organs  differ  greatly  in  the 
two  sexes.  In  the  Tetrao  cupido  (Fig.  39)  the  male  has 
two  bare,  orange-colored  sacs,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
neck ;  and  these  are  largely  inflated  when  the  male,  dur- 
ing the  breeding-season,  makes  a  curious  hollow  sound, 
audible  at  a  great  distance.  Audubon  proved  that  the 
sound   was    intimately  connected   with    this    apparatus, 

39  Gould,  'Hand-book  to  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  1865,  pp.  308- 
310.     See  also  Mr.  T.  W.  Wood  in  the  'Student,'  April,  1870,  p.  125. 

^^  See  remarks  to  this  eflfect  in  Gould's  '  Introduction  to  the  Trochi- 
lidae,'  1861,  p.  22. 


54 


SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Part  II. 


wliich  reminds  \is  of  the  air-sacs  on  each  side  of  the 
mouth  of  certain  male  frogs,  for  he  found  that  the  sound 
was  much  diminished  when  one  of  tlie  sacs  of  a  tame 
bird   was  pricked,  and  wlien  both  were  pricked  it    was 


Chap.  XIII.]  VOCAL   MUSIC.  55 

altogether  stopped.  The  female  has  "  a  somewhat  similar, 
though  smaller,  naked  space  of  skin  on  the  neck ;  hut  this 
is  not  capable  of  inflation."  "  The  male  of  another  kind  of 
grouse  {Tetrao  urophasianus),  while  courting  the  female, 
has  his  "  bare  yellow  oesophagus  inflated  to  a  prodigious 
size,  fully  half  as  large  as  the  body ; "  and  he  then  utters 
various  grating,  deep  hollow  tones.  With  liis  neck-feath- 
ers erect,  his  wings  lowered  and  buzzing  on  the  ground, 
and  his  long  pointed  tail  spread  out  like  a  fan,  he  displays 
a  variety  of  grotesque  attitudes.  The  oesophagus  of  the 
female  is  not  in  any  way  remarkable." 

It  seems  now  well  made  out  that  the  great  throat- 
pouch  of  the  European  male  bustard  {Otis  tarda),  and  of 
at  least  four  other  species,  does  not  serve,  as  was  formerly 
supposed,  to  hold  water,  but  is  connected  with  the  utter- 
ance, during  the  breeding-season,  of  a  peculiar  sound  re- 
sembling "ock."  The  bird  while  uttering  this  sound 
throws  himself  into  the  most  extraordinary  attitudes.  It 
is  a  singular  fact  that,  with  the  males  of  the  same  species, 
the  sac  is  not  developed  in  all  the  individuals."  A 
crow-like  bird  inhabiting  South  America  {Gephalopterus 
ornatus,  Fig.  40)  is  called  the  umbrella-bird,  from  its  im- 
mense top-knot,  formed  of  bare  white  quills  surmounted 

*'  '  The  Sportsman  and  Naturalist  in  Canada,'  by  Major  W.  Ross 
King,  1866,  pp.  144-146.  Mr.  T.  W.  Wood  gives  in  the  'Student' 
(April,  IS'/O,  p.  116)  an  excellent  account  of  the  attitude  and  habits  of 
this  bird  during  its  courtship.  He  states  that  the  ear-tufts  or  neck- 
plumes  are  erected,  so  that  they  meet  over  the  crown  of  the  head. 

^'^  Richardson,  'Fauna  Bor.  Americana:  Birds,'  1831,  p.  359.  Audu- 
bon, ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  507. 

^^  The  following  papers  have  been  lately  written  on  this  subject : 
Prof.  A.  Newton,  in  the  'Ibis,'  1862,  p.  107  ;  Dr.  CuUen,  ibid.  1865,  p. 
145;  Mr.  Flower,  in  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1865,  p.  747;  and  Dr.  Murie,  in 
'Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1868,  p.  471.  In  this  latter  paper  an  excellent  figure 
is  given  of  the  male  AustraUan  Bustard  in  full  display  with  the  sac  dis- 
tended. 


56 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Part  II. 


by  dark-l)liic  ]»1  nines,  which  it  can  elevate  into  a  great 
dome  no  less  than  five  inches  in  diameter,  covering  the 
whole  head.  This  bird  has  on  its  neck  a  long,  thin,  cylin- 
drical, fleshy  appendage,  which  is  thickly  clothed  with 


Fig.  40.— The  Umbrella-Bird,  or  Ceplmloptenis  oruatus  (male,  from  Brehm). 


scale-like  blue  feathers.  It  probably  serves  in  part  as  an 
ornament,  but  likewise  as  a  resounding  apparatus,  for  Mr. 
Bates  found  that  it  is  connected  "  with  an  unusual  de- 
velopment of  the  trachea  and  vocal  organs."  It  is  di- 
lated when  the  bird  utters  its  singularly  deep,  loud,  and 


Chap,  XIII.]  VOCAL   MUSIC.  57 

long-sustained  fluty  note.  The  head-crest  and  neck-ap- 
pendage are  rudimentary  in  the  female." 

The  vocal  organs  of  various  web-footed  and  wading 
birds  are  extraordinarily  complex,  and  differ  to  a  certain 
extent  in  the  two  sexes.  In  some  cases  the  trachea  is 
convoluted,  like  a  French  horn,  and  is  deeply  embedded 
in  the  sternum.  In  the  wild-swan  ( Cygnus  ferus)  it  is 
more  deeply  embedded  in  the  adult  male  than  in  the 
female  or  young  male.  In  the  male  Merganser  the  en- 
larged portion  of  the  trachea  is  furnished  with  an  addi- 
tional pair  of  muscles."  But  the  meaning  of  these  differ- 
ences between  the  sexes  of  many  Anatidae  is  not  at  all 
undei'stood;  for  the  male  is  not  always  the  more  vo- 
ciferous ;  thus  with  the  common  duck,  the  male  hisses, 
while  the  female  utters  a  loud  quack."  In  both  sexes  of 
one  of  the  cranes  ( Grus  virgo)  the  trachea  penetrates  the 
sternum,  but  pi'esents  "  certain  sexual  modifications."  In 
the  male  of  the  black  stork  there  is  also  a  well-marked 
sexual  difference  in  the  length  and  curvature  of  the 
bronchi."  So  that  highly-important  structures  have  in 
these  cases  been  modified  according  to  sex. 

It  is  often  difficult  to  conjecture  whether  the  many 
strange  cries  and  notes,  uttered  by  male  birds  during  the 
breeding-season,  serve  as  a  charm  or  merely  as  a  call  to 

**  Bates,  '  The  Naturalist  on  the  Amazons,'  1863,  vol.  ii.  p.  284 ;  Wal- 
lace, in  '  Proc.  Zool.  See'  1850,  p.  206.  A  new  species,  with  a  stiU 
larger  neck-appendage  ( G.  penduliger),  has  lately  been  discovered,  see 
'  Ibis,'  vol.  i.  p.  457. 

■*^  Bishop,  in  Todd's  'Cyclop,  of  Anat.  and  Phys.'  vol.  iv.  p.  1499. 

**  The  spoonbill  (Platalea)  has  its  trachea  convoluted  into  a  figure  of 
eight,  and  yet  this  bird  (Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  763)  is 
mute  ;  but  Mr.  Blyth  informs  me  that  the  convolutions  are  not  constant- 
ly present,  so  that  perhaps  they  are  now  tending  toward  abortion. 

^''  'Elements  of  Comp.  Anat.'  by  K.  Wagner,  Eng.  translat.  1845,  p. 
111.  With  respect  to  the  swan,  as  given  above,  Yarrell's  'Hist,  of  Brit- 
ish Birds,'  2d  edit.  1845,  vol.  iii.  p.  193. 


58  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

the  female.  The  soft  cooing  of  the  turtle-dove  and  of 
many  pigeons,  it  may  be  presumed,  pleases  the  female. 
"When  the  female  of  the  wild-turkey  utters  her  call  in 
the  morning,  the  male  answers  hy  a  diiferent  note  from 
the  gobbling  noise  which  he  makes,  Avhen  with  erected 
feathers,  rustling  wings,  and  distended  wattles,  he  puffs 
and  struts  before  her."  Tiie  spcl  of  the  blackcock  cer- 
tainly serves  as  a  call  to  the  female,  for  it  has  been  known 
to  bring  four  or  five  females  from  a  distance  to  a  male 
under  confinement ;  but,  as  the  blackcock  continues  his 
spel  for  hours  during  successive  days,  and  in  the  case  of 
the  capercailzie  "  with  an  agony  of  passion,"  we  are  led 
to  suppose  that  the  females  which  are  ah*eady  present  are 
thus  charmed."  The  voice  of  the  common  rook  is  known 
to  alter  during  the  breeding-season,  and  is  therefoi*e  in 
some  way  sexual.^"  But  what  shall  we  say  about  the 
harsh  screams  of,  for  instance,  some  kinds  of  macaws  ; 
have  these  birds  as  bad  taste  for  musical  sounds  as  they 
apparently  have  for  color,  judging  by  the  inharmonious 
contrast  of  their  bright-yellow  and  blue  plumage  ?  It  is 
indeed  possible  that  the  loud  voices  of  many  male  birds 
may  be  the  result,  without  any  advantage  being  thus 
gained,  of  the  inherited  effects  of  the  coiitinued  use  of 
their  vocal  organs,  when  they  are  excited  by  the  strong 
passions  of  love,  jealousy,  and  rage ;  but  to  this  point  we 
shall  recur  when  we  treat  of  quadrupeds. 

We  have  as  yet  spoken  only  of  the  voice,  but  the 
males  of  various  birds  practise,  during  their  courtship, 
what  may  be  called  instrumental  music.  Peacocks  and 
Bii-ds  of  Paradise  rattle  their  quills   together,  and  the 

*8  G.  L.  Bonaparte,  quoted   in  the  'Naturalist  Library:  Birds,'  voL 
xiv.  p.  126. 

*9  L.  Lloyd,  'The  Ganic-Birds  of  Sweden,'  etc.,  18G7,  pp.  22,  81. 
«•  Jenner,  '  Philosoph.  Transactions,'  1824,  p.  20. 


Chap.  XIII.]  INSTRUMENTAL   MUSIC.  59 

vibratory  movement  apparently  serves  merely  to"  make  a 
noise,  for  it  can  hardly  add  to  the  beauty  of  their  plu- 
mage. Turkey-cocks  scrape  their  wings  against  the 
ground,  and  some  kinds  of  grouse  thus  produce  a  buzzing 
sound.  Another  North  American  grouse,  the  Tetrao  um- 
helhcs^  when  with  his  tail  erect,  his  ruffs  displayed,  "  he 
shows  off  his  finery  to  the  females,  who  lie  hid  in  the 
neighborhood,"  drums  rapidly  with  his  "  lowered  wings 
on  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  tree,"  or,  according  to  Audubon, 
against  his  own  body ;  the  sound  thus  produced  is  com- 
pared by  some  to  distant  thunder,  and  by  others  to  the 
quick  roll  of  a  drum.  The  female  never  drums,  "  but  flies 
directly  to  the  place  where  the  male  is  thus  engaged."  In 
the  Himalayas  the  male  of  the  Kalij-pheasant  "  often  makes 
a  singular  drumming  noise  with  his  wings,  not  unlike  the 
sound  produced  by  shaking  a  stiff  piece  of  cloth."  On  the 
west  coast  of  Africa  the  little  black-weavers  (Ploccus  ?) 
congregate  in  a  small  party  on  the  bushes  round  a  small 
open  space,  and  sing  and  glide  through  the  air  with 
quivering  wings,  "which  make  a  rapid  whirring  sound 
like  a  child's  rattle."  One  bird  after  another  thus  per- 
forms for  hours  together,  but  only  during  the  couiting- 
season.  At  this  same  season  the  males  of  certain  night- 
jars (Caprimiilgus)  make  a  most  strange  noise  with  their 
wings.  The  various  sj^ecies  of  woodpeckers  strike  a 
sonorous  branch  with  their  beaks,  with  so  rapid  a  vibrato- 
ry movement  that  "  the  head  appears  to  be  in  two  places 
at  once."  The  sound  thus  prodixced  is  audible  at  a  con- 
siderable distance,  but  cannot  be  described ;  and  I  feel 
sure  that  its  cause  would  never  be  conjectured  by  any  one 
who  heard  it  for  the  first  timq.  As  this  jarring  sound  is 
made  chiefly  during  the  breeding-season,  it  has  been  con- 
sidered as  a  love-song ;  but  it  is  perhaps  more  strictly  a 
love-call.  The  female,  when  driven  from  her  nest,  has 
been  observed  thus  to  call  her  mate,  who  answered  in  the 


GO  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

same  manner  and  soon  appeared.  Lastly,  the  male  Hoopoe 
( Upupa  epops)  combines  vocal  and  instrumental  music ; 
for  durin"-  the  breeding-season  this  bird,  as  Mr.  Swinhoe 
savv^  first  draws  in  air  and  then  ta})S  the  end  of  its  beak 
perpendicularly  down  against  a  stone  or  the  trunk  of  a 
tree,  "  when  the  breath  being  forced  down  the  tubular  bill 
produces  the  correct  sound."  When  the  male  utters  its 
cry  without  striking  his  beak,  the  sound  is  quite  ditierent." 
In  the  foregoing  cases  sounds  are  made  by  the  aid  of 
structures  already  present  and  otherwise  necessary ;  but 
in  tlie  following  cases  certain  feathers  have  been  specially 
moditied  for  the  express  purpose  of  producing  the  sounds. 
The  drumming,  or  bleating,  or  neighing,  or  thundering 
noise,  as  expressed  by  different  observers,  which  is  made 
by  the  common  snipe  {Scolopax  galUnago)  must  have  sur- 
prised every  one  who  has  ever  heard  it.     This  bird,  during 


Fig.  41— Outer  tail  i  i  ,  i        ,i    m   i';        /.   ,  i.  Soc.  1858). 

the  pairing-season,  flies  to  "  perhaps  a  thousand  feet  in 
height,"  and,  after  zigzagging  about  for  a  time,  descends 
in  a  curved  line,  with  outsjaread  tail  and  quivering  pinions, 

*'  For  the  forcfioing  several  facts  see,  on  Birds  of  Paradise,  Brehm, 
' Thierleben,'  Band  iii.  .s.  325.  On  Grouse,  Richardson,  'Fauna  Bor. 
Americ.  :  Birds,'  pp.  343,  359 ;  Major  W.  Ross  King,  '  The  Sports- 
man in  Canada,'  1866,  p.  156;  Audubon,  'American  Ornitholog.  Biog- 
raph.'  vol.  i.  p.  216.  On  the  Kalij-pheasant,  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,' 
vol.  iii.  p.  533.  On  the  Weavers, ,'  Livingstone's  Expedition  to  the  Zam- 
besi,' 1865,  p.  425.  On  Woodpeckers,  Macgillivray,  'Hist,  of  British 
Birds,'  vol.  iii.  1840,  pp.  84,  88,  89,  95.  On  the  Hoopoe,  Mr  Swin- 
hoe,  in  'Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc.'  June  23,  1863.  On  the  Nisht-Jar,  Audubon, 
ibid  vol.  ii.  p.  255.  The  Enghsh  Night-Jar  likewise  makes  in  the  spring 
a  curious  noise  during  its  rapid  flight. 


Chap.  XIII.]  INSTRUMENTAL   MUSIC.  61 

with  surprising  velocity  to  the  earth.  The  sound  is  emit- 
ted only  during  this  rapid  descent.  No  one  was  able  to 
explain  the  cause,  until  M.  Meves  observed  that  on  each 
side  of  the  tail  the  outer  feathers  are  peculiarly  formed 
(Fig.  41),  having  a  stiif,  sabre-shaped  shaft,  with  the  ob- 
lique barbs  of  unusual  length,  the  outer  webs  bemg  strong- 
ly bound  together.  He  found  that,  by  blowing  on  these 
feathers,  or  by  fastening  them  to  a  long  thin  stick  and 
waving  them  raj^idly  through  the  air,  he  could  exactly  re- 
produce the  drumming  noise  made  by  the  living  bird. 
Both  sexes  are  furnished  with  these  feathers,  but  they  are 
generally  larger  in 
the  male  than  in  the 


female,   and   emit    a 

/^f.pi-,pi>     note       In      ■^'*^'  42.— Outer  tail-feather  of  Scolopax  frenata. 

some  species,  as  in 
S.  frenata  (Fig.  42), 
four  feathers,  and  in 

&   mvensis  (Fv^.  43)       Fig.  43.-Oiiter  tail-feather  of  Scolopax  javensis. 

no  less  than  eight,  on  each  side  of  the  tail,  are  greatly 
modified.  Different  tones  are  emitted  by  the  feathers  of 
the  different  species  when  waved  through  the  air;  and  the 
Seolopax  Wilsonii  of  the  United  States  makes  a  switching 
noise  while  descending  rapidly  to  the  earth. ^^ 

In  the  male  of  the  Chaincepetes  xmicolor  (a  large  galli- 
naceous bird  of  America)  the  first  primary  wing-feather 
is  arched  toward  the  tip  and  is  much  more  attenuated  than 
in  the  female.  In  an  allied  bird,  the  Penelope  nigra,  Mr. 
Salvin  observed  a  male,  which,  while  it  flew  downward 
"  with  outstretched  wings,  gave  forth  a  kind  of  crashing, 

^'  See  M.  Meves's  interesting  paper  in  'Proc.  Zool.  See.'  1858,  p.  199. 
For  the  habits  of  the  snipe,  Macgillivray,  '  Hist.  British  Birds,'  vol.  iv.  p. 
371.  For  the  American  snipe,  Captain  Blakiston,  'Ibis,'  vol.  v.  1863, 
p.  131 


C2  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [I'akt  II. 

rushing  noise,"  like  the  lulling  of  a  tree."  The  male  alone 
of  one  of  the  Indian  bustards  {ISypheotkles  anritus)  has  its 
l)riinary  wing-feathers  greatly  acuminated;  and  the  male 
of  an  allied  speeies  is  known  to  make  a  humming  noise 
while  courting  the  female."  In  a  widely-different  group 
of  hirds,  namely  the  Huniming-hirds,  the  males  alone  of 

certain  kinds  have  either  the 
shafts  of  their  primary  wing- 
feathers  broadly  dilated,  or  the 
webs  abruptly  excised  toward 
the  extremity.  The  male,  for 
F.r  n.-i',inu.r.y  win^.A.uiu r  of     instance,  of  ^Selaspho7-us  2)l((fu- 

a  Humnuug-bird,  the  Selaxplto-  ■'  I        if 

rus  i)iattjctrcm  (from  a  sketch     cercxs,   when    adult,    has    the 
by  Mr.  saivin).   Upper  flgurc,     first  primary  winfj-foather  (Fig. 

that  of  male ;  lower  lignre,  cor-       ..n  .*,.,.  \      o 

responding  feather  of  female.       '^'^)    excised   m    this    manner. 
While   flying    from   flower   to 
flower  he  makes  "a  shrill,  almost.whistling  noise;""  but 
it  did  not  a])pear  to  Mr.  tsalvin  that  the  noise  was  inten- 
tionally made. 

Lastly,  in  several  species  of  a  sub-genus  of  Pipra  or 
Manakin,  the  males  have  their  secondare/  wung-feathers 
modified,  as  described  by  Mr.  Sclater,  in  a  still  more  re- 
markable manner.  In  the  brilliantly-colored  J*,  deltciosa 
the  first  three  secondaries  are  thick-stemmed  and  curved 
toward  the  body ;  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  (Fig.  45,  a)  the 
change  is  greater ;  and  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  (?>,  c)  the 
shaft  "  is  thickened  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  forming  a 
solid  horny  lump."  Tlie  barbs  also  are  greatly  changed, 
in  shape,  in  comparison  with  the  corresponding  feathers 

"*  Mr.  Saivin,  in  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  186Y,  p.  160.  I  am  much  indebted 
to  this  distinguished  ornithologist  for  sketches  of  the  feathers  of  the 
Chamtcpetcs,  and  for  other  information. 

"  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  pp.  618,  621. 

**  Gould,  'Introduction  to  the  Trochilidae,'  18G1,  p.  40.  Saivin, 
'Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc.'  1867,  p.  160. 


Chap.  XIII.] 


INSTRUMENTAL   MUSIC. 


G3 


{d,  e,  f)  in  the  female.  Even  the  bones  of  tlie  wing  which 
support  these  singular  feathers  in  the  male  are  said  by- 
Mr.  Fraser  to  be  much  thickened.  These  little  birds 
make  an  extraordinary  noise,  the  first  "  sharp  note  being 
not  unlike  the  crack  of  a  whip."  ^^ 


Fig.  45.— Secondary  win^'-feathers  of  Pipra  deliciosa  (from  Mr.  Sclater,  in  Proc. 

Zool.  Soc.  1800).    The  thieo  upper  feathers,  a,  b,  e,  from  the  male  ;  the  three 

lower  corresponding  feathers,  d,e,f,  from  the  female. 
a  and  d.  Fifth  secondary  wince-feather  of  male  and  female,  upper  surface,     b 

and  e.    Sixth  secondary,  upper  surface,    c  and  /.  Seventh  secondary,  lower 

surface. 


=8  Sclater,  in  'Proc.  Zool    Soc'  1860,   p.  90,  and  in  'Ibis,'  vol.  iv. 
1862,  p.  1V5.     Also  Salvin,  in  'Ibis,'  1860,  p.  87. 


64  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

The  diver.'^ity  of  the  sounds,  both  vocal  and  instrumen- 
tal, made  by  the  males  of  many  species  during  the  breed- 
ing-season, and  the  diversity  of  the  means  for  producing 
such  sounds,  are  highly  remarkal)le.  We  thus  gain  a 
high  idea  of  their  importance  for  sexual  purposes,  and  are 
reminded  of  the  same  conclusion  with  respect  to  insects. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  steps  by  which  the  notes 
of  a  bird,  primarily  used  as  a  mere  call  or  for  some  other 
purpose,  might  have  been  improved  into  a  melodious  love- 
song.  This  is  somewhat  more  difficult  in  the  case  of  the 
modified  feathers,  by  which  the  drumming,  whistling,  or 
roaring  noises,  are  produced.  But  we  have  seen  that  some 
birds  during  their  courtship  flutter,  shake,  or  rattle  their 
unmodified  feathers  together;  and,  if  the  females  were  led 
to  select  the  best  performers,  the  males  whicli  possessed 
the  strongest  or  thickest,  or  most  attenuated  feathers, 
situated  on  any  part  of  the  body,  would  be  the  most  suc- 
cessful ;  and  thus  by  slow  degrees  the  feathers  might  be 
modified  to  almost  any  extent.  The  females,  of  course, 
would  not  notice  each  slight  successive  alteration  in  shape, 
but  only  the  sounds  thus  produced.  It  is  a  curious  fact 
that,  in  the  same  class  of  animals,  sounds  so  different  as 
the  drumming  of  the  snipe's  tail,  the  tapping  of  the  wood- 
pecker's beak,  the  harsh  trumpet-like  cry  of  certain  water- 
fowl, the  cooing  of  the  turtle-dove,  and  the  SQUg  of  the 
nightingale,  should  all  be  pleasing  to  the  females  of  the 
several  species.  But  we  must  not  judge  the  tastes  of  dis- 
tinct species  by  a  uniform  standard  ;  nor  must  we  judge 
by  the  standard  of  man's  taste.  Even  with  man,  we 
should  remember  what  discordant  noises,  the  beating  of 
tom-toms  and  the  shrill  notes  of  reeds,  please  the  ears  of 
savages.  Sir  S.  Baker  remarks,"  that  "as the  stomach  of 
the  Arab  prefers  the  raw  meat  and  reeking  liver  taken 

"  -The  Nile  Tributaries  of  Abyssinia,'  1867,  p.  203. 


Chap.  XIII.]  LOVE-ANTICS.  Go 

hot  from  the  animal,  so  does  his  ear  prefer  his  equally 
coarse  and  discordant  music  to  all  other." 

Love-Antics  and  Dances. — The  curious  love-gestures 
of  various  birds,  especially  of  the  Gallinaceae,  have  already 
been  incidentally  noticed;  so  that  little  need  here  be 
added.  In  Northern  America,  lai'ge  numbers  of  a  grouse, 
the  Tetrao  phasianellus,  meet  every  morning  during  the 
breeding-season  on  a  selected  level  spot,  and  here  they 
run  round  and  round  in  a  circle  of  about  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  in  diameter,  so  that  the  ground  is  worn  quite  bare, 
like  a  fairy-ring.  In  these  Partridge-dances,  as  they  are 
called  by  the  hunters,  the  birds  assume  the  strangest  atti- 
tudes, and  run  round,  some  to  the  left  and  some  to  the 
right.  Audiibon  describes  the  males  of  a  heron  {Ardea 
herodias)  as  walking  about  on  their  long  legs  with  great 
dignity  before  the  females,  bidding  defiance  to  their  rivals. 
With  one  of  the  disgusting  carrion-vultures  {CatJiartes 
jota)  the  same  naturalist  states  that  "  the  gesticulations 
and  parade  of  the  males  at  the  beginning  of  the  love-sea- 
son are  extremely  ludicrous."  Certain  birds  perform 
their  love-antics  on  the  wing,  as  we  have  seen  with  the 
black  African  weaver,  instead  of  on  the  ground.  During 
the  spring  our  little  white-throat  {Sylvia  cinerea)  often 
rises  a  few  feet  or  yards  in  the  air  above  some  bush,  and 
"  flutters  with  a  fitful  and  fantastic  motion,  singing  all  the 
while,  and  then  drops  to  its  perch."  The  great  English 
bustard  throws  himself  into  indescribably  odd  attitudes 
while  courting  the  female,  as  has  been  figured  by  Wolf. 
An  allied  Indian  bustard  ( Otis  Bengalensis)  at  such  times 
"  rises  perpendicularly  into  the  air  with  a  hun-ied  flapping 
of  his  wings,  raising  his  crest  and  puffing  out  the  feathers 
of  his  neck  and  breast,  and  then  drops  to  the  ground;" 
he  repeats  this  manoeuvre  several  times  successively,  at 
the  same  time  humming  in  a  peculiar  tone.     Such  females 


GG  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

as  happen  to  be  near  "  obey  this  saltatory  summons,"  and 
wlien  tliey  approach  be  trails  his  wings  and  spreads  his 
tail  like  a  turkey-cock." 

But  the  most  curious  case  is  afforded  by  three  allied 
genera  of  Australian  birds,  the  famous  Bower-birds — no 
doubt  the  co-descendants  of  some  ancient  species  which 
first  acquired  the  strange  instinct  of  constructing  bowers 
for  performing  their  love-antics.  The  bowers  (Fig.  46), 
which,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  are  highly  decorated 
with  feathers,  shells,  bones,  and  leaves,  are  built  on  the 
ground  for  the  sole  purpose  of  court sliip,  for  their  nests 
are  formed  in  trees.  Both  sexes  assist  in  the  erection  of 
the  bowers,  but  the  male  is  the  principal  workman.  So 
strong  is  this  instinct  that  it  is  practised  under  confine- 
ment, and  Mr.  Strange  has  described '"  the  habits  of  some 
Satin  Bower-birds,  which  he  kept  in  his  aviary  in  New 
South  Wales.  "  At  times  the  male  wall  chase  the  female 
all  over  the  aviary,  then  go  to  the  bower,  pick  up  a  gay 
feather  or  a  large  leaf,  utter  a  curious  kind  of  note,  set  all 
his  fcatliers  erect,  run  round  the  bower  and  become  so 
excited  that  his  eyes  appear  ready  to  start  from  his  head ; 
he  continues  opening  first  one  wing,  and  then  the  other, 
uttering  a  low,  whistling  note,  and,  like  the  domestic 
cock,  seems  to  be  picking  up  something  from  the  groxmd, 
until  at  last  the  female  goes  gently  toward  him."  Cap- 
tain Stokes  has  described  the  habits  and  "  play-houses  " 
of  another  species,  the  Great  Bower-bird,  which  was  seen 

*^  For  Tctrao  phasianollus,  sec  Richardson,  'Fauna  Bor.  America,'  p. 
861,  and  for  furtlicr  particulars  Captain  Blakiston,  '  Il>is,'  1863,  p.  125. 
For  the  Cathartes  and  Ardca,  Audubon,  '  Ornitli.  Bio<;raphy,'  vol.  ii.  p. 
CI,  and  vol.  iii.  p.  89.  On  the  White-throat,  Mai-gillivrav,  '  Hist.  British 
Birds,'  vol.  ii.  p.  354.  On  the  Indian  Bustard,  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,' 
vol.  iii.  p.  618. 

'9  Gould,  '  Hand-book  to  the  Birda  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  pp.  444,  449, 
455.  The  bower  of  the  Satin  Bower-bird  may  always  be  seen  in  the 
Zoological  Society's  Gardens,  Regent's  Park. 


Chap.  XIII.] 


LOVE-ANTICS. 


67 


"  amusing  itself  by  flying  backward  and  forward,  taking 
a  shell  alternately  from  each  side,  and  carrying  it  through 
the  archway  in  its  mouth."      These  curious   structures, 


68  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  LPart  IL 

formed  solely  as  halls  of  assemblages,  where  both  sexes 
amuse  themselves  and  pay  their  court,  must  cost  the  birds 
much  labor.  The  bower,  for  instance,  of  the  fawn- 
breasted  species,  is  nearly  four  feet  in  length,  eighteen 
inches  in  height,  and  is  raised  on  a  thick  platform  of 
sticks. 

Decoration. — I  will  first  discuss  the  cases  in  wliich  the 
males  are  ornamented  either  exclusively  or  in  a  much 
higher  degree  than  the  females;  and  in  a  succeeding 
chapter  those  in  which  both  sexes  are  equally  orna- 
mented, and  finally  the  rare  cases  in  which  the  female  is 
somewhat  more  brightly  colored  than  the  male.  As  with 
the  artificial  ornaments  nsed  by  savage  and  civilized  men, 
80  with  the  natural  ornaments  of  birds,  the  head  is  the 
chief  seat  of  decoration.'^  The  ornaments,  as  mentioned 
at  the  commencement  of  this  chapter,  are  wonderfully  di- 
versified. The  plumes  on  the  front  or  back  of  the  head 
consist  of  variously-shaped  feathers,  sometimes  capable  of 
erection  or  expansion,  by  which  their  beautiful  colors  are 
fully  displayed.  Elegant  ear-tufts  (see  Fig.  39  ante)  are 
occasionally  present.  The  head  is  sometimes  covered 
witli  velvety  down  like  that  of  the  pheasant ;  or  is  naked 
and  vividly  colored;  or  supports  fleshy  appendages,  fila- 
ments, and  solid  protuberances.  The  throat,  also,  is 
sometimes  ornamented  with  a  beard,  or  with  wattles  or 
caruncles.  Such  appendages  are  generally  brightly  col- 
ored, and  no  doubt  serve  as  ornaments,  though  not  always 
ornamental  in  our  eyes ;  for  while  the  male  is  in  the  act 
of  courting  the  female,  they  often  swell  and  assume  more 
vivid  tints,  as  in  the  case  of  the  male  turkey.  At  such 
times  the  fleshy  appendages  about  the  head  of  the  male 
Tragopan  pheasant  ( Ceriornis  temminckii)  swell  into  a 

*"  See  remarks  to  this  effect,  on  the  "  Feeling  of  Beauty  among  Ani- 
mals," by  Mr.  J.  Shaw,  in  the  '  Athenoeum,'  Nov.  24,  1866,  p.  081. 


Chap.  XIII.]  DECORATION.  69 

large  lappet  on  the  throat  and  into  two  horns,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  splendid  top-knot ;  and  these  are  then 
colored  of  the  most  intense  blue  which  I  have  ever  be- 
held. The  African  hornbill  {Bucorax  Abyssinicus)  inflates 
the  scarlet  bladder-like  wattle  on  its  neck,  and  with  its 
wing  drooping  and  tail  expanded  "  makes  quite  a  grand 
appearance."  "  Even  the  iris  of  the  eye  is  sometimes 
more  brightly  colored  in  the  male  than  in  the  female ; 
and  this  is  frequently  the  case  with  the  beak,  for  instance, 
in  our  common  blackbird.  In  Suceros  corrugatus,  the 
whole  beak  and  immense  casque  are  colored  more  con- 
spicuously in  the  male  than  in  the  female ;  and  "  the  ob- 
lique grooves  upon  the  sides  of  the  lower  mandible  are 
peculiar  to  the  male  sex."  " 

The  males  are  often  ornamented  with  elongated  feath- 
ers or  plumes,  springing  fi'om  almost  every  part  of  the 
body.  The  feathers  on  the  throat  and  breast  are  some- 
times developed  into  beautiful  ruffs  and  collars.  The  tail- 
feathers  are  frequently  increased  in  length,  as  we  see  in 
the  tail-coverts  of  the  peacock,  and  in  the  tail  of  the 
Argus  pheasant.  The  body  of  this  latter  bird  is  not 
larger  than  that  of  a  fowl ;  yet  the  length  from  the  end  of 
the  beak  to  the  extremity  of  the  tail  is  no  less  than  five 
feet  three  inches. °'  The  wing-feathers  are  not  elongated 
nearly  so  often  as  the  tail-feathers;  for  their  elongation 
would  impede  the  act  of  flight.  Yet  the  beautifully  ocel- 
lated  secondary  wing-feathers  of  the  male  Argus  pheasant 
are  nearly  three  feet  in  length ;  and,  in  a  small  African 
night-jar  [Cosmetornis  vexillarius),  one  of  the  primary 
wing-feathers,  during  the  breeding-season,  attains  a  length 
of  twenty-six  inches,  while  the  bii-d  itself  is  only  ten  inches 
in  length.     In  another  closely-allied  genus  of  night-jars, 

"  Mr.  Monteiro,  'Ibis,'  vol.  iv.  1862,  p.  339. 

fi''  'Land  and  Water,'  1868,  p.  217. 

*-^  Jardine's  'Naturalist  Library:  Birds,'  vol.  xiv.  p.  160. 


70  SEXUAL   SELECTION;   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

the  shafts  of  the  eloiipjated  wiiig-feathers  are  naked,  ex- 
cept at  the  extremity,  where  there  is  a  disk."  Again,  in 
another  genus  of  niglit-jars,  tlie  tail-feathers  are  even 
still  more  prodigiously  developed;  so  that  we  see  the 
same  kind  of  ornament  gained  by  the  males  of  closely- 
allied  hirds,  tlirough  the  development  of  Avidely-different 
feathers. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  feathers  of  birds  belonging 
to  distinct  groups  have  been  modified  in  almost  exactly 
the  same  peculiar  mauner.  Thus  tlie  wing-feathers  in  one 
of  the  above-mentioned  night-jars  are  bare  along  the  shaft 
and  terminate  in  a  disk  ;  or  are,  as  they  are  sometimes 
called,  spoon  or  racket-shaped.  Feathers  of  this  kind 
occur  in  the  tail  of  a  motmot  [Eumomota  snpcrcillaris), 
of  a  king-fisher,  finch,  humming-bird,  parrot,  several 
Indian  drongos  {Dlcrurus  and  JEklolius,  in  one  of  which 
the  disk  stands  vertically),  and  in  the  tail  of  certain  Birds 
of  Paradise.  In  these  latter  birds,  similar  feathers,  beau- 
tifully ocellated,  ornament  the  head,  as  is  likewise  the 
case  with  some  gallinaceous  birds.  In  an  Indian  bustard 
{SypJieotides  auritus),  the  feathers  forming  the  ear-tufts, 
which  are  about  four  inches  in  length,  also  terminate  in 
disks."  The  barbs  of  the  feathers  in  various  widely-dis- 
tinct birds  are  filamentous  or  plumose,  as  with  some 
Herons,  Ibises,  Birds  of  Paradise,  and  Gallinacea?.  In 
other  cases  the  barbs  disa])pear,  leaving  the  shafts  bare; 
and  these  in  the  tail  of  the  Paradisea  apoda  attain  a 
length  of  thirty-four  inches.*"  Smaller  feathers  when  thus 
denuded  appear  like  bristles,  as  on  the  breast  of  the 
turkey-cock.     As  any  fleeting  fashion  in  dress  comes  to 

"  Silater,  in  the  'Ibis,'  vol.  vi.  1864,  p.  114.  Livingstone,  'Expedi- 
tion to  the  Zambesi,'  1865,  p.  66. 

«*  Jeidon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  620. 

««  Wiilhico,  in  'Annals*  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  xx.  1857,  p.  416; 
and  in  his  '  Malay  Archipelago,'  vol.  ii.  1869,  p.  390. 


"Chap.  XIII.]  DECORATION.  71 

be  admired  by  man,  so  with  birds  a  change  of  almost  any 
kind  in  the  structure  or  coloring  of  the  feathers,  in  tlie 
male,  appears  to  have  been  admired  by  the  female.  The 
fact  of  the  feathers  in  widely-distinct  groups  having  been 
modified  in  an  analogous  manner,  no  doubt  depends  pri- 
marily on  all  the  feathers  having  nearly  the  same  struct- 
ure and  manner  of  development,  and  consequently  tend- 
ing to  vary  in  the  same  manner.  We  often  see  a  ten- 
dency to  analogous  variability  in  the  plumage  of  our 
domestic  breeds  belonging  to  distinct  species.  Thus  top- 
knots have  appeared  in  several  species.  In  an  extinct 
variety  of  the  turkey,  the  top-knot  consisted  of  bare  quills 
surmounted  with  plumes  of  down,  so  that  tliey  resembled, 
to  a  certain  extent,  the  racket-shaped  feathers  above  de- 
scribed. In  certain  breeds  of  the  pigeon  and  fowl  the 
feathers  are  plumose,  with  some  tendency  in  the  shafts  to 
be  naked.  In  the  Sevastopol  goose  the  scapular  feathers 
are  greatly  elongated,  curled,  or  even  spirally  twisted, 
with  the  margins  plumose,*' 

In  regard  to  color  hardly  any  thing  need  here  be  said  ; 
for  every  one  knows  how  splendid  are  the  tints  of  birds, 
and  how  harmoniously  they  are  combined.  The  colors 
are  often  metallic  and  ii-idescent.  Circular  spots  are 
sometimes  surrounded  by  one  or  more  diiferently-shaded 
zones,  and  are  thus  converted  into  ocelli.  Nor  need  much 
be  said  on  the  wonderful  difterences  between  the  sexes,  or 
of  the  extreme  beauty  of  the  males  of  many  birds.  The 
common  peacock  offers  a  striking  instance.  Female  Birds 
of  Paradise  are  obscurely  colored  and  destitute  of  all  orna- 
ments, while  the  males  are  probably  the  most  highly 
decorated  of  all  birds,  and  in  so  many  ways,  that  they 
must  be  seen  to  be  ajjpreciated.  The  elongated  and 
golden-orange   plumes   which   sj^ring   from  beneath   the 

*'  See  my  work  on  '  The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Do- 
mestication,' vol.  i.  pp.  289,  293. 


72 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Paut  n. 


winfTs  of  the  Paradisea  apoda  (see  Fig.  47  of  P.  rubra,  a 
much  less  beautiful  species),  when  vertically  erected  and 
made  to  vibrate,  are  described  as  forming  a  sort  of  halo, 


Chap.  XIII.] 


DECORATION. 


73 


in  the  centre  of  which  the  head  "  looks  like  a  little  eme- 
rald sun  with  its  rays  formed  by  the  two  plumes."  *"  In 
another  most  beautiful  species  the  head  is  bald,  "  and  of  a 


Fig.  48.— Lophornis  ornatus,  male  and  female  (from  Brehm). 

8*  Quoted  from  M.  de  Lafresnaye,  in  '  Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.' 
23 


n 


'SEXUAL  SELECTION:    BIRDS 


[Part  IL 


Fio.  49.— Spatliura  Underwood i,  malenud  IVmalo  (from  BroUni). 


vol.  xiii.  1854,  p.  157;  see  also  Mr.  Wallace's  much  fuller  account  in  voL 
XX.  1857,  p.  412,  and  in  his  Malay  Archipelago. 


Chap.  XIII.]  DECORATION.  75 

rich  cobalt  blue,  crossed  by  several  lines  of  black  velvety- 
feathers."  '' 

Male  humming-birds  (Figs.  48  and  49)  almost  vie  with 
Birds  of  Paradise  in  their  beauty,  as  every  one  will  admit 
who  has  seen  Mr.  Gould's  splendid  volumes  or  his  rich 
collection.  It  is  very  remarkable  in  how  many  different 
ways  these  birds  are  ornamented.  Almost  every  part  of 
the  plumage  has  been  taken  advantage  of  and  modified ; 
and  the  modifications  have  been  carried,  as  Mr.  Gould 
showed  me,  to  a  wonderful  extreme  in  some  species  be- 
longing to  nearly  every  sub-group.  Such  cases  are  curi- 
ously like  those  which  we  see  in  our  fancy  breeds,  reared 
by  man  for  the  sake  of  ornament :  certain  individuals 
originally  varied  in  one  character,  and  other  individuals 
belonging  to  the  same  species  in  other  characters ;  and 
these  have  been  seized  on  by  man  and  augmented  to  an 
extreme  point — as  the  tail  of  the  fantail-pigeon,  the  hood 
of  the  jacobin,  the  beak  and  wattle  of  the  carrier,  etc. 
The  sole  difference  between  these  cases  is  that  in  the 
one  the  result  is  due  to  man's  selection,  while  in  the 
other,  as  with  Humming-birds,  Birds  of  Paradise,  etc.,  it 
is  due  to  sexual  selection — that  is,  to  the  selection  by  the 
females  of  the  more  beautiful  males. 

I  will  mention  only  one  other  bird,  remarkable  from 
the  extreme  contrast  in  color  between  the  sexes,  namely, 
fhe  famous  Bell-bird  ( ChasmorhyncJms  niveus)  of  South 
America,  the  note  of  which  can  be  distinguished  at  the 
distance  of  nearly  three  miles,  and  astonishes  every  one 
who  first  hears  it.  The  male  is  pure  white,  while  the  fe- 
male is  dusky-green;  and  the  former  color  with  terres- 
trial species  of  moderate  size  and  inoffensive  habits  is  very 
rare.  The  male,  also,  as  described  by  Waterton,  has  a 
spiral  tube,  nearly  three  inches  in  length,  which  rises  from 
the  base  of  the  beak.     It  is  jet-black,  dotted  over  with 

*9  "Wallace,  'The  Malay  Archipelago,'  vol.  ii.  1869,  p.  405. 


76  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  H. 

minute  downy  feathers.  This  tiil)e  can  be  inflated  with 
air,  tlirough  a  communication  with  the  palate ;  and  when 
not  inflated  liangs  down  on  one  side.  The  genus  consists 
of  four  species,  the  males  of  which  are  very  distinct,  while 
the  females,  as  described  by  Mr.  Sclater  in  a  most  inter- 
esting paper,  closely  resemble  each  other,  thus  oflTering  an 
excellent  instance  of  the  common  rule  that  within  the 
same  group  the  males  differ  much  more  from  each  other 
than  do  the  females.  In  a  second  species  {(J.  niidicollis) 
the  male  is  likewise  snow-white,  with  the  exception  of  a 
large  space  of  naked  skin  on  the  throat  and  round  the 
eyes,  which  during  the  breeding-season  is  of  a  tine  green 
color.  In  a  third  species  (6^.  tricarunculatus)  the  head 
and  neck  alone  of  the  male  are  white,  the  rest  of  the  body 
being  chestnut-brown,  and  the  male  of  this  species  is  pro- 
vided with  three  filamentous  projections  half  as  long  as 
the  body — one  rising  from  the  base  of  the  beak  and  the 
two  others  from  the  corners  of  the  mouth." 

The  colored  plumage  and  certain  other  ornaments  of 
the  males  when  adult  are  either  retained  for  life  or  are 
periodically  renewed  during  the  summer  and  breeding-sea- 
son. At  this  season  the  beak  and  naked  skin  about  the 
head  frequently  change  color,  as  with  some  herons,  ibises, 
gulls,  one  of  the  bell-birds  just  noticed,  etc.  In  the  white 
ibis,  the  cheeks,  the  inflatable  skin  of  the  throat,  and  the 
basal  portion  of  the  beak,  then  become  crimson."  In  one 
of  the  rails,  Gallicrex  cristatus,  a  large  red  caruncle  is  de- 
veloped during  this  same  period  on  the  head  of  the  male. 
So  it  is  with  a  thin  horny  crest  on  the  beak  of  one  of  the 
pelicans,  P.  erythrorliynchKS  ;  for,  after  the  breeding-sea- 
son, these  horny  crests  are  shed,  like  horns  from  the  heads 

■"•  Mr.  Sclater,  'Intellectual  Observer,'  Jan.  1867.  '  Waterton's  Wan- 
derings,' p.  118.  See  also  Mr.  Salvin's  interesting  paper,  with  a  plate,  in 
the  'Ibis,'  1866,  p.  90. 

"  '  Land  and  Water,'  18G7,  p.  394. 


Chap.  XIIL]  DOUBLE  ANNUAL   MOULT.  77 

of  stags,  and  the  shore  of  an  island  in  a  lake  in  Nevada 
was  found  covered  with  these  curious  exuviae." 

Changes  of  color  in  the  plumage  according  to  the  sea- 
son depend  firstly  on  a  double  annual  moult,  secondly  on 
an  actual  change  of  color  in  the  feathers  themselves,  and 
thirdly  on  their  dull-colored  margins  being  periodically 
shed,  or  on  these  three  processes  more  or  less  combined. 
The  shedding  of  the  deciduary  margins  may  be  compared 
with  the  shedding  by  very  young  birds  of  their  down ; 
for  the  down  in  most  cases  arises  from  the  summits  of  the 
first  true  feathers." 

With  respect  to  the  birds  which  annually  undergo  a 
double  moult,  there  are,  firstly,  some  kinds,  for  instance 
snipes,  swallow-plovers  (Glareolse)  and  curlews,  in  which 
the  two  sexes  resemble  each  other  and  do  not  change 
color  at  any  season.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  winter 
plumage  is  thicker  and  warmer  than  the  summer  plumage, 
which  seems,  when  there  is  no  change  of  color,  the  most 
probable  cause  of  a  double  moult.  Secondly,  there  are 
birds,  for  instance,  certain  species  of  Totanus  and  other 
grallatores,  the  sexes  of  wliich  resemble  each  other,  but 
have  a  slightly  diflferent  summer  and  winter  plumage. 
Tlie  difference,  however,  in  color  in  these  cases  is  so 
slight  that  it  can  hardly  be  an  advantage  to  them  ;  and  it 
may,  perhaps,  be  attributed  to'  the  direct  action  of  the 
diffei'ent  conditions  to  which  the  birds  are  exposed  during 
the  two  seasons.  Thirdly,  there  are  many  other  birds  the 
sexes  of  which  are  alike,  but  which  are  widely  different  in 
their  summer  and  winter  plumage.  Fourthly,  there  are 
birds,  the  sexes  of  which  difler  from  each  other  in  color ; 
but  the  females,  though  moulting  twice,  retain  the  same 
colors  throughout  the  year,  while  the  males  undergo  a 

"  Mr.  D.  G.  Elliot,  in  'Proc.  ZooL  Soc'  1869,  p.  589. 
'^ '  Nitzsch's  Pterylography,'  edited   by  P.   L.   Sclater.      Ray  Soc. 
1867,  p.  14. 


78  SEXUAL  SELECTION :  BIRDS.  [Paut  II. 

change,  sometimes,  as  witli  certain  bustards,  a  great 
cliange  of  color.  Fifthly  and  lastly,  there  are  hirds  the 
sexes  of  which  difter  from  each  other  in  both  their  sum- 
mer and  winter  plumage,  but  the  male  undergoes  a 
greater  amount  of  change  at  each  recurrent  season  than 
the  female — of  Avhich  the  iluif  [Madietes  2^^tOnax)  offers 
a  good  instance. 

With  respect  to  the  cause  or  pur2)ose  of  the  differences 
in  color  between  the  summer  and  winter  plumage,  this 
may  in  some  instances,  as  with  the  ])tarmigan,'*  serve 
during  both  seasons  as  a  pi'otection.  When  the  difference 
between  the  two  plumages  is  slight  it  may  perhaps  be  at- 
tributed, as  already  remarked,  to  the  direct  action  of  the 
conditions  of  life.  But  with  many  birds  there  can  hardly 
be  a  doubt  that  the  summer  plumage  is  ornamental,  even 
when  both  sexes  are  alike.  We  may  conclude  that  this  is 
the  case  with  many  herons,  egrets,  etc.,  for  tliey  acquire 
their  beautiful  plumes  only  during  the  breeding-season. 
Moreover,  such  plumes,  top-knots,  etc.,  though  possessed 
by  both  sexes,  are  occasionally  a  little  more  highly  devel- 
0])ed  in  the  male  than  in  the  female ;  and  they  resemble 
the  plumes  and  ornaments  possessed  by  the  males  alone 
of  other  birds.  It  is  also  known  that  confinement,  by 
affecting  the  reproductive  system  of  male  birds,  frequent- 
ly checks  the  development  of  their  secondary  sexual  char- 
acters, but  has  no  immediate  influence  on  any  other  char- 
acters ;  and  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Bartlett  that  eight  or 
nine  specimens  of  the  Knot  {Triiiga  canutus)  retained 
their  unadorned  winter  plumage  in  the  Zoological  Gar- 

"'•  The  brown  mottled  summer  plumage  of  the  ptarmigan  is  of  as  much 
importance  to  it,  as  .a  protection,  as  the  white  winter  plumage ;  for,  in 
Scandinavia,  -during  the  spring,  when  the  snow  has  disappeared,  this  t)ird 
is  known  to  suflTer  greatly  from  birds  of  prey,  before  it  has  acquired  its 
summer  dress  :  see  Wilhelm  von  Wright,  in  Lloyd,  '  Game-Birds  of 
Sweden,'  18C7,  p.  125. 


Chap.  XIII.]  DOUBLE   ANNUAL   MOULT.  79 

dens  throughout  the  year,  from  which  fact  we  may  infer 
that  the  summer  phimage,  though  common  to  both  sexes, 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  exclusively  masculine  plu- 
mage of  many  other  birds." 

From  the  foregoing  facts,  more  especially  from  neither 
sex  of  certain  birds  changing  color  during  either  annual 
moult,  or  changing  so  slightly  that  the  change  can  hardly 
be  of  any  service  to  them,  and  from  the  females  of  other 
species  moulting  twice,  yet  retaining  the  same  colors 
throughout  the  year,  we  may  conclude  that  the  habit  of 
moulting  twice  in  the  year  has  not  been  acquired  in  order 
that  the  male  should  assume  during  the  breeding-season 
an  ornamental  character ;  but  that  the  double  moult,  hav- 
ing been  originally  acquired  for  some  distinct  purpose, 
has  subsequently  been  taken  advantage  of  in  certain  cases 
for  gaining  a  nuptial  ])lumage. 

It  appears  at  first  sight  a  surprising  circumstance  that, 
with  closely-allied  birds,  some  species  should  regularly 
undergo  a  double  annual  moult,  and  others  only  a  single 
one.  The  ptarmigan,  for  instance,  moults  twice  or  even 
thrice  in  the  year,  and  the  blackcock  only  once :  some  of 
the  splendidly-colored  honey-suckers  (Nectarinije)  of  In- 
dia and  some  sub-genera  of  obscurely-colored  pipits  (An- 
thus)  have  a  double,  while  others  have  only  a  single  an- 
nual moult."  But  the  gradations  in  the  manner  of  moult- 
ing, which  are  known  to  occur  with  various  birds,  show 
us  how  species,  or  whole  groups  of  species,  might   have 

'*  Li  regard  to  the  previous  statements  on  moulting,  see,  on  snipes, 
etc.,  Macgillivray,  '  Hist.  Brit.  Birds,'  vol.  iv.  p.  371 ;  on  Glareolas,  cur- 
lews, and  bustards,  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  pp.  615,  630,  683  ; 
on  Tetanus,  ibid.  p.  TOO  ;  on  the  plumes  of  herons,  ibid.  p.  738,  and  Mac- 
gillivray, vol.  iv.  pp.  435,  444,  and  Mr.  Stafford  Allen,  in  the  '  Ibis,'  vol. 
V.  1863,  p.  33. 

'^  On  the  moulting  of  the  ptarmigan,  see  Gould's  '  Birds  of  Great 
Britain.'  On  the  honey-suckers,  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  pp.  359, 
365,  369.     On  the  moulting  of  Anthus,  see  Blyth,  in  '  Ibis,'  1867,  p.  32. 


80  SEXUAL  SELECTION :   BIRDS.  [Paut  II. 

originally  acquired  tlu-ir  doiil>k'  iiiinual  moult,  or,  having 
once  gained  the  habit,  liave  again  lost  it.  With  certain 
bustards  and  i)lovers  the  vernal  moult  is  far  from  com- 
plete, some  feathers  being  renewed,  and  some  changed  in 
color.  There  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  with  certain 
bustards  and  rail-like  birds,  which  properly  imdergo  a 
double  moult,  some  of  the  older  males  retain  their  nup- 
tial plumage  throughout  the  year.  A  few  liighly-modified 
feathers  may  alone  be  added  during  the  spring  to  the 
phunage,  as  occurs  with  the  disk-fox-raed  tail-feathers  of 
certain  drongos  {Bhringa)  in  India,  and  ^^dth  the  elon- 
gated feathers  on  the  back,  neck,  and  crest,  of  certain 
herons.  By  such  steps  as  these,  the  vernal  moult  might 
be  rendered  more  and  more  complete,  until  a  perfect 
double  moult  was  acquired.  A  gradation  can  also  be 
shown  to  exist  in  the  length  of  time  during  which  either 
annual  plumage  is  retained ;  so  that  the  one  might  come 
to  be  retained  for  the  whole  year,  the  other  being  com- 
pletely lost.  Thus  the  Machetes  pugnax  retains  his  ruff 
in  the  spring  for  barely  tAvo  months.  Tlie  male  widow- 
bird  {Chera  progm')  acquires  in  Natal  his  tine  plumage 
and  long  tail-feathers  in  December  or  January,  and  loses 
them  in  March ;  so  that  they  are  retained  during  only 
about  three  months.  Most  species  which  undergo  a 
double  moult  keep  their  ornamental  feathers  for  abmit 
six  months.  The  male,  however,  of  the  Avild  Gallus 
haJikiva  retains  his  neck-hackles  for  nine  or  ten  months ; 
and,  when  these  are  cast  off,  the  underlying  black  feathers 
on  the  neck  are  fully  exposed  to  view.  But,  with  tlie  do- 
mesticated descendant  of  this  species,  the  neck-liackles  of 
the  male  are  immediately  replaced  by  new  ones ;  so  that 
we  here  see,  with  respect  to  part  of  the  j^lumage,  a  double 
moult  changed  under  domestication  into  a  single  moult." 

"  For  the  forcgoinf^  stiitcracnts  in  regard  to  partial  moults,  and  on 
old  males  retaining  their  nuptial  plumage,  sec  Jerdon,  on  bustards  and 


Chap.  XIII.J  DOUBLE   ANNUAL   MOULT.  81 

The  common  drake  (Anas  hoschas)  is  well  known  after 
the  breeding-season  to  lose  his  male  plumage  for  a  period 
of  thi'ee  months,  during  which  time  he  assumes  that  of 
the  female.  The  male  pintail-duck  (Anas  acuta)  loses 
his  plumage  for  the  shorter  period  of  six  weeks  or  two 
months;  and  Montagu  remarks  that  this  double  moult 
within  so  short  a  time  is  a  most  extraordinary  circum- 
stance, that  seems  to  bid  defiance  to  all  human  reasoning. 
But  he  who  believes  in  the  gradual  modification  of  spe- 
cies will  be  far  from  feeling  surprised  at  finding  grada- 
tions of  all  kinds.  If  the  male  pintail  were  to  acquire  his 
new  plumage  within  a  still  shorter  period,  the  nfiw  male 
feathers  would  almost  necessarily  be  mingled  with  the  old, 
and  both  with  some  proper  to  the  female ;  and  this  ap- 
parently is  the  case  with  the  male  of  a  not  distantly-allied 
bird,  namely  the  Merganser  serrator,  for  the  males  are 
said  to  "  undergo  a  change  of  plumage,  which  assimilates 
them  in  some  measure  to  the  female."  By  a  little  further 
acceleration  in  the  process,  the  double  moult  would  be 
completely  lost.'* 

Some  male  birds,  as  before  stated,  become  more  bright- 
ly colored  in  the  spring,  not  by  a  vernal  moult,  but  either 
by  an  actual  change  of  color  in  the  feathers,  or  by  their 
obscurely-colored  deciduary  margins  being  shed.  Changes 
of  color  thus  caused  may  last  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time. 
With  the  Pelecanus  onocrotalus  a  beautiful  rosy  tint,  with 

plovers,  in  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  pp.  617,  637,  709,  711.  Also  Blyth 
in  'Land  and  Water,'  1867,  p.  84.  On  the  Vidua,  'Ibis,'  vol.  iii.  1861, 
p.  133.  On  the  Drongo  Shrikes,  Jerdon,  ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  435.  On  the 
vernal  moult  of  the  Herodias  bwbulcus,  Mr.  S.  S.  Allen,  in  '  Ibis,'  1863,  p. 
33.  On  Gallus  bankiva,  Blyth,  in  'Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol. 
i.  1848,  p.  455  ;  see,  also,  on  this  subject,  my  '  Variation  of  Animals 
under  Domestication,'  vol.  i.  p.  236. 

■'8  See  Macgillivray,  'Hist.  British  Birds'  (vol.  v.  pp.  34,70,223), 
on  the  moulting  of  the  Anatidae,  with  quotations  from  Waterton  and 
Montagu.     Also  Yarrell,  '  Hist,  of  British  Birds,'  voL  iii.  p.  243. 


82  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

lemon-colored  marks  on  the  breast,  overspreads  the  whole 
plumage  in  the  spring;  but  these  tints,  as  Mr.  Sclater 
states,  "  do  not  last  long,  disappearing  generally  in  about 
six  weeks  or  two  months  after  they  liave  been  attained." 
Certain  tinclies  shed  the  margins  of  their  feathers  in  the 
spring,  and  then  become  bright-colored,  while  other  finches 
undergo  no  such  change.  Thus  the  Frhiffilla  tristis  of  the 
Ignited  States  (as  well  as  many  other  American  species) 
exhibits  its  bright  colors  only  when  the  winter  is  past, 
while  our  goldfinch,  which  exactly  represents  this  bird  in 
habits,  and  our  siskin,  which  represents  it  still  more  close- 
ly in  structure,  undergo  no  such  annual  change.  But  a 
difference  of  this  kind  in  the  jjlumage  of  allied  species  is 
not  surprising,  for  with  the  common  linnet,  which  belongs 
to  the  same  family,  the  crimson  forehead  and  breast  are 
displayed  only  during  the  summer  in  England,  while  in 
Madeii'a  these  colors  are  retained  throughout  the  year." 

Dispknj  by  Male  Birds  of  tJieir  Plumage. — Ornaments 
of  all  kinds,  whether  permanently  or  temporarily  gained, 
are  sedulously  displayed  by  the  males,  and  apparently 
serve  to  excite,  or  attract,  or  charm,  the  females.  But  the 
males  will  sometimes  display  their  ornaments,  when  not 
in  the  presence  of  the  females,  as  occasionally  occurs  with 
grouse  at  their  balz-places,  and  as  may  be  noticed  with 
the  peacock;  this  latter  bird,  however,  evidently  wishes 
for  a  spectator  of  some  kind,  and  will  show  off  his  finery, 
as  I  have  often  seen,  before  poultry  or  even  pigs.*"  All 
naturalists  who  have  closely  attended  to  the  habits  of 

"On  the  pelican,  see  Sclater,  in  'Proe.  Zool.  Soe.'  1868,  p.  2C5. 
On  the  Aracricau  finches,  see  Audubon,  '  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  pp. 
174,  221,  and  .lerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  ii.  p.  383.  On  the  Frinffilla 
cannahina  of  Ma<k'ira,  Mr.  E.  Vernon  Ilurcourt,  'Ibis,'  vol.  v.  1863, 
p.  230. 

^  See  also  '  Ornamental  r.)ultrv,'  bv  Ilev.  E.  S.  Dixon,  1848,  p.  8. 


Cbap.  XIII.]  DISPLAY   BY   THE   MALE.  83 

birds,  whether  in  a  state  of  nature  or  under  confinement, 
are  unanimously  of  opinion  that  the  males  delight  to  dis- 
play their  beauty.  Audubon  frequently  speaks  of  the 
male  as  endeavoring  in  various  ways  to  charm  the  female. 
Mr.  Gould,  after  describing  some  peculiarities  in  a  male 
humming-bird,  says  he  has  no  doubt  that  it  has  the  power 
of  displaying  them  to  the  greatest  advantage  before  the 
female.  Dr.  Jerdon "  insists  that  the  beautiful  plumage 
of  the  male  serves  "  to  fascinate  and  attract  the  female." 
Mr.  Bartlett,  at  the  Zoological  Gardens,  expressed  himself 
to  me  in  the  strongest  terms  to  the  same  eflect. 

It  must  be  a  grand  sight  in  the  forest  of  India  "  to 
come  suddenly  on  twenty  or  thirty  pea-fowl,  the  males 
displaying  their  gorgeous  trains,  and  strutting  about  in 
all  the  pomp  of  pride  before  the  gratified  females."  The 
wild-turkey-cock  erects  his  glittering  plumage,  expands 
his  finely-zoned  tail  and  barred  wing-feathers,  and  alto- 
gether, with  his  gorged  crimson  and  blue  wattles,  makes 
a  superb,  though,  to  our  eyes,  grotesque  appearance. 
Similar  facts  have  already  been  given  with  respect  to 
grouse  of  various  kinds'  Turning  to  another  Order.  The 
male  Rupicola  crocea  (Fig.  50)  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
birds  in  the  world,  being  of  a  splendid  orange,  with  some 
of  the  feathers  curiously  truncated  and  plumose.  The  fe- 
male is  brownish-green,  shaded  with  red,  and  has  a  much 
smaller  crest.  Sir  R.  Schomburgk  has  described  their 
courtship ;  he  found  one  of  their  meeting-places  where  ten 
males  and  two  females  were  present.  The  space  was 
from  four  to  five  feet  tn  diameter,  and  appeared  to  have 
been  cleared  of  every  blade  of  grass  and  smoothed  as  if 
by  human  hands.  A  male  "  was  capering  to  the  apparent 
delight   of   several   others.      Kow   spreading   its  wings, 

*^  '  Birds  of  India,'  Introduct.  vol.  i.  p.  xxiv. ;  on  the  peacock,  vol. 
iii.  p.  507.  See  Gould's  '  Introduction  to  the  Trochilidaj,'  1861,  pp.  15, 
111. 


84 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:  BIRD& 


[Part IL 


throwing  uj)  its  head,  or  opi'iiing  its  tail  like  a  Ian;  now 
strutting  about  with  a  hopping  gait  until  tired,  when  it 
gal)hled  some  kind  of  note,  and  was  relieved  by  another. 


Fig.  50.— Rupicola  crocea,  male  (from  Brelim). 

Thus  three  of  them  successively  took  the  field,  an<i  then, 
with  self-api)r<)bation,  withdrew  to  rest."  The  Indians,  in 
order  to  obtain  their  skins,  wait  at  one  of  the  Jiieeting- 
places  till  the  birds  are  eagerly  engaged  in  dancing,  and 


Chap.  XIII.]  DISPLAY   BY   THE   MALE.  85 

then  are  able  to  kill,  with  their  poisoned  arrows,  four  or 
five  males,  one  after  the  other. ^'^  With  Birds  of  Paradise 
a  dozen  or  more  fuU-plumaged  males  congregate  in  a  tree 
to  hold  a  dancing-party,  as  it  is  called  by  the  natives ; 
and  here  flying  about,  raising  their  wings,  elevating  their 
exquisite  plumes,  and  making  them  vibrate,  the  whole  tree 
seems,  as  Mr.  Wallace  remarks,  to  be  filled  with  waving 
plumes.  When  thus  engaged,  they  become  so  absorbed 
that  a  skilful  archer  may  shoot  nearly  the  whole  party. 
These  birds,  when  kept  in  confinement  in  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago, are  said  to  take  much  care  in  keeping  their  feathers 
clean ;  often  spreading  them  out,  examining  them,  and  re- 
moving every  speck  of  dirt.  One  observer,  who  kept 
several  pairs  alive,  did  not  doubt  that  the  display  of  the 
male  was  intended  to  please  the  female.*' 

The  gold -pheasant  {^Thaumalea  picta^  during  his 
courtship  not  only  expands  and  raises  his  splendid  frill, 
but  turns  it,  as  I  have  myself  seen,  obliquely  toward  the 
female  on  whichever  side  she  may  be  standing,  obviously 
in  order  that  a  large  surface  may  be  displayed  before 
her.**  Mr.  Bartlett  has  observed  a  male  Polyplectron 
(Fig.  51)  in  the  act  of  courtship,  and  has  shown  me  a 
specimen  stuffed  in  the  attitude  then  assumed.  The  tail 
and  wing  feathers  of  this  bird  are  ornamented  with  beau- 
tiful ocelli,  like  those  on  the  peacock's  train.  Now,  when 
the  peacock  displays  himself,  he  expands  and  erects  his 
tail  transversely  to  his  body,  for  he  stands  in  front  of  the 
female,  and  has  to  show  off,  at  the  same  time,  his  rich 

83  'Journal  of  R.  Geograph.  Soc'  vol.  x.  1840,  p.  236. 

^  'Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  xiii.  1854,  p.  15*7;  also  Wal- 
lace, ibid.  vol.  XX.  185*7,  p.  412,  and  '  The  Malay  Archipelago,'  vol.  ii. 
1869,  p.  252.  Also  Dr.  Bennett,  as  quoted  by  Brehm,  '  Thierleben,'  B. 
iii.  s.  326. 

84  Mr.  T.  W.  Wood  has  given  ('The  Student,'  April,  18*70,  p.  115)  a 
full  account  of  this  manner  of  display,  which  he  calls  the  lateral  or  one- 
sided, by  the  gold-pheasant  and  by  the  Japanese  pheasant,  Ph.  versicolor. 


86 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Part  II. 


blue  throat  :ui<l  l»roast.  Jiut  the  breast  of  the  Polyplec- 
tron  is  obscurely  colored,  and  the  ocelli  are  not  confined 
to  the  tail-feathers.     Consequently  the  Polyplectron  does 


Chap.  XIIL]  DISPLAY   BY   THE   MALE.  87 

not  stand  in  front  of  the  female ;  but  he  erects  and  ex- 
pands his  tail-feathers  a  little  obliquely,  lowering  the  ex- 
panded wing  on  the  same  side,  and  raising  that  on  the 
opposite  side.  In  this  attitude  the  ocelli  over  the  whole 
body  are  exposed  before  the  eyes  of  the  admiring  female 
in  one  grand  bespangled  expanse.  To  whichever  side  she 
may  turn,  the  expanded  wings  and  the  obliquely-held  tail 
are  turned  toward  her.  The  male  Tragopan  pheasant 
acts  in  nearly  the  same  manner,  for  he  raises  the  feathers 
of  the  body,  though  not  the  wing  itself,  on  the  side  which 
is  opposite  to  the  female,  and  which  would  otherwise  be 
concealed,  so  that  nearly  all  the  beautifully-spotted  feath- 
ers are  exhibited  at  the  same  time. 

The  case  of  the  Argus  pheasant  is  still  more  striking. 
The  immensely-developed  secondary  wing-feathers,  which 
are  confined  to  the  male,  are  ornamented  with  a  row  of 
from  twenty  to  twenty-three  ocelli,  each  above  an  inch  in 
diameter.  The  feathers  are  also  elegantly  marked  with 
obliqixe  dark  stripes  and  rows  of  spots,  like  those  on  the 
skin  of  a  tiger  and  leopard  combined.  The  ocelli  are  so 
beautifully  shaded  that,  as  the  Duke  of  Argyll  remarks," 
they  stand  out  like  a  ball  lying  loosely  within  a  socket. 
But  when  I  looked  at  the  specimen  in  the  British  Museum, 
which  is  mounted  with  the  wings  expanded  and  trailing 
downward,  I  was  greatly  disappointed,  for  the  ocelli  ap- 
peared flat  or  even  concave.  Mr,  Gould,  however,  soon 
made  the  case  clear  to  me,  for  he  had  made  a  drawing  of 
a  male  while  he  was  displaying  himself.  At  such  times 
the  long  secondary  feathers  in  both  wings  are  vertically 
erected  and  expanded  ;  and  these,  together  with  the  enor- 
mously-elongated tail-feathers,  make  a  grand  semicircular 
upright  fan.  Now  as  soon  as  the  wing-feathers  are  held 
in  this  position,  and  the  light  shines  on  them  from  above, 
the  full  effect  of  the  shading  comes  out,  and  each  ocellus 
85  '  The  Reign  of  Law,'  ISeV,  p.  203. 


88  SP:X1:aL   selection:   birds.  [Part  II. 

at  once  rcsonibles  the  ornament  called  a  ball  and  socket. 
These  feathers  have  been  shown  to  several  artists,  and  all 
have  expressed  their  admiration  at  the  perfect  shading. 
It  may  well  be  asked,  Could  such  artistically-shaded  orna- 
ments have  been  formed  by  means  of  sexual  selection  ? 
But  it  will  be  convenient  to  defer  giving  an  answer  to 
this  question  until  we  treat  in  the  next  cliapter  of  the 
principle  of  gradation. 

The  primary  wing-feathers,  which  in  most  gallinaceous 
birds  are  uniformly  colored,  are  in  the  Argus  pheasant 
not  less  wonderful  objects  than  the  secondary  wing-feath- 
ers. They  are  of  a  soft  brown  tint  with  numerous  dark 
spots,  each  of  which  consists  of  two  or  three  black  dots 
with  a  surrounding  dark  zone.  But  the  chief  ornament  is 
a  space  parallel  to  the  dark-blue  shaft,  which  in  outline 
forms  a  perfect  second  feather  lying  within  the  true  feath- 
er. This  inner  part  is  colored  of  a  lighter  chestnut,  and 
is  thickly  dotted  with  minute  white  points.  I  have  shown 
this  feather  to  several  persons,  and  many  have  admired  it 
even  more  than  the  ball-and-socket  feathers,  and  have  de- 
clared that  it  was  more  like  a  work  of  art  than  of  Xature, 
Now  these  feathei's  are  quite  hidden  on  all  ordinary  occa- 
sions, but  are  fully  displayed  when  the  long  secondary 
feathers  are  erected,  though  in  a  widely-different  manner ; 
for  they  arc  expanded  in  front  like  two  little  fans  or 
shields,  one  on  each  side  of  the  breast  near  the  ground. 

The  case  of  the  male  Argus  pheasant  is  eminently  in- 
teresting, because  it  affords  good  evidence  that  the  most 
refined  beauty  may  serve  as  a  charm  for  the  female,  and 
for  no  other  purpose.  We  must  conclude  that  this  is  the 
case,  as  the  primary  wing-feathers  are  never  displayed, 
and  the  ball-and-socket  ornaments  are  not  exhibitt'd  in  full 
perfection,  except  when  the  male  assumes  the  attitude  of 
courtship.  The  Argus  pheasant  does  not  possess  brilliant 
colors,  so  that  his  success  in  courtship  appears  to  have 


Chap.  XIII.]  DISPLAY   BY   THE    MALE.  89 

depended  on  the  great  size  of  his  plumes,  and  on  the  elab- 
oration of  the  most  elegant  patterns.  Many  will  declare 
that  it  is  utterly  incredible  that  a  female  bird  should  be 
able  to  appreciate  fine  shading  and  exquisite  patterns.  It 
is  undoubtedly  a  marvellous  fact  that  she  should  possess 
this  almost  human  degree  of  taste,  though  perhaps  she 
admires  the  general  eifect  rather  than  each  separate  de- 
tail. He  who  thinks  that  he  can  safely  gauge  the  discrimi- 
nation and  taste  of  the  lower  animals,  may  deny  that  the 
female  Argus  pheasant  can  appreciate  such  refined  beau- 
ty ;  but  he  will  then  be  compelled  to  admit  that  the  ex- 
traordinary attitudes  assumed  by  the  male  during  the  act 
of  courtship,  by  which  the  wonderful  beauty  of  his  plu- 
mage is  fully  displayed,  are  purposeless ;  and  this  is  a  con- 
clusion which  I  for  one  will  never  admit. 

Although  so  many  pheasants  and  allied  gallinaceous 
birds  carefully  display  their  beautiful  plumage  before  the 
females,  it  is  remarkable,  as  Mr.  Bartlett  informs  me,  that 
this  is  not  the  case  with  the  dull-colored  Eared  and  Cheer 
pheasants  {Crossoptilon  auritum  and  I*hasianus  Walli- 
chii)  •  so  that  these  birds  seem  conscious  that  they  have 
little  beauty  to  display.  Mr.  Bartlett  has  never  seen  the 
males  of  either  of  these  species  fighting  together,  though 
he  has  not  had  such  good  opportunities  for  observing  the 
Cheer  as  the  Eared  pheasant.  Mr.  Jenner  Weir,  also, 
finds  that  all  male  birds  with  rich  or  strongly-character- 
ized plumage  are  more  quarrelsome  than  the  dull-colored 
species  belonging  to  the  same  groups.  The  goldfinch,  for 
instance,  is  far  more  pugnacious  than  the  linnet,  and  the 
blackbird  than  the  thrush.  Those  birds  which  undergo  a 
seasonal  change  of  plumage  likewise  become  much  more 
pugnacious  at  the  period  when  they  are  most  gayly  orna- 
mented. No  doubt  the  males  of  some  obscurely-colored 
birds  fight  desperately  together,  but  it  appears  that  when 
sexual  selection  has  been  highly  influential,  and  has  given 


yO  SEXUAL   SELECTION:    BIUDS.  [Part  IL 

l)riglit  colors  to  the  males  of  any  species,  it  has  also  very 
often  given  a  strong  tendency  to  pugnacity.  We  shall 
meet  with  nearly  analogous  cases  when  we  treat  of  mara- 
niuls.  On  the  other  hand,  with  birds  the  power  of  song 
and  brilliant  colors  have  rarely  been  both  ac([uired  by  the 
males  of  the  same  sjjeiies  ;  but  in  this  case,  the  advantage 
gained  would  have  been  identically  the  same,  namely,  suc- 
cess in  charming  the  female.  Nevertheless,  it  must  be 
owned  that  the  males  of  several  brilliantly-colored  birds 
have  had  their  feathei-s  si)ecially  modified  for  the  sake  of 
producing  instrumental  music,  though  the  beauty  of  this 
cannot  be  compared,  at  least  according  to  our  taste,  with 
that  of  the  vocal  music  of  many  songsters. 

We  will  now  turn  to  male  birds  which  are  not  orna- 
mented in  any  very  high  degiee,  but  which  nevertheless 
display,  during  their  courtship,  whatever  attractions  they 
may  possess.  These  cases  are  in  some  respects  more 
curious  than  the  foregoing,  and  have  been  but  little  no- 
ticed. I  owe  the  following  facts,  selected  from  a  large 
body  of  valuable  notes,  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Jenner  Weir, 
who  has  long  kept  birds  of  many  kinds,  including  all  the 
British  P'ringillidai  and  P2mberizida?.  The  bullfinch  makes 
his  advances  in  front  of  the  female,  and  then  puffs  out  his 
breast,  so  that  many  more  of  the  crimson  feathers  are  seen 
at  once  than  otherwise  would  be  the  case.  At  the  same 
time  he  twists  and  bows  his  black  tail  from  side  to  side  in 
a  ludicrous  manner.  The  male  chaffinch  also  stands  in 
front  of  the  female,  thus  showing  his  red  breast,  and 
"  blue-bell,"  as  the  fanciers  call  his  head  ;  the  wings  at  the 
same  time  being  slightly  expanded,  with  the  pure  white 
hands  on  the  shoulders  thus  rendered  conspicuous.  The 
common  linnet  distends  his  rosy  breast,  slightly  expands 
his  brown  whigs  and  tail,  so  as  to  make  the  best  of  them 
by  exhibiting  their  white  edgings.  We  must,  however, 
be  cautious  in   concluding  that  the  wings  are  sjjread  out 


Chap.  XIII.]  DISPLAY   BY   THE    MALE.  91 

solely  for  display,  as  some  birds  act  thus  whose  wings  are 
not  beautiful.  This  is  the  case  with  the  domestic  cock, 
but  it  is  always  the  wing  on  the  side  opposite  to  the  female 
which  is  expanded,  and  at  the  same  time  scraped  on  the 
ground.  The  male  goldfinch  behaves  differently  from  all 
other  finches  :  his  wings  are  beautiful,  the  shoulders  being 
black,  with  the  dark-tipped  wing-feathers  spotted  with 
white  and  edged  with  golden  yellow.  When  he  courts 
the  female,  he  sways  his  body  from  side  to  side,  and. 
quickly  turns  his  slightly-expanded  wings  first  to  one  side 
then  to  the  other,  with  a  golden  flashing  effect.  No  other 
British  finch,  as  Mi".  Weir  informs  me,  turns  during  his 
courtship  from  side  to  side  in  this  manner ;  not  even  the 
closely-allied  male  siskin,  for  he  would  not  thus  add  to  his 
beauty. 

Most  of  the  British  Buntings  are  plain-colored  birds ; 
but  in  the  spring  the  feathers  on  the  head  of  the  male 
reed-bunting  {Emberiza  schoenicxdus)  acquire  a  fine  black 
color  by  the  abrasion  of  the  dusky  tips ;  and  these  are 
erected  during  the  act  of  courtship.  Mr.  Weir  has  kept 
two  species  of  Amadina  from  Australia :  the  A.  castanotis 
is  a  very  small  and  chastely-colored  finch,  with  a  dark 
tail,  white  rump,  and  jet-black  upper  tail-coverts,  each  of 
the  latter  being  marked  with  three  large  conspicuous  oval 
spots  of  white."  This  species,  when  courting  the  female, 
slightly  spreads  out  and  vibrates  these  party-colored  tail- 
coverts  in  a  very  peculiar  manner.  The  male  Amadina 
Lathami  behaves  very  diffei'ently,  exhibiting  before  the 
female  his  brilliantly-spotted  breast  and  scarlet  nxmp,  and 
scarlet  upper  tail-coverts.  I  may  here  add  from  Dr. 
Jerdon,  that  the  Indian  Bulbul  {Pycnonotus  hmmorrhous) 
has  crimson  binder  tail-coverts,  and  the  beauty  of  these 
feathers,  it  might  be  thought,  could  never  be  well  exhib- 

^  For  the  description  of  these  birds,  see  Gould's  '  Hand-book  to  the 
Bii-ds  of  Australia,'  vol  i.  1865,  p.  41*7. 


92  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

ited  ;  but  tlic  ])ir(l  "  when  excited  often  spreads  them  out 
hiterally,  "  so  that  they  can  be  seen  even  from  above."  " 
The  common  j>igeon  has  iridescent  featliers  on  the  breast, 
and  every  one  must  have  seen  how  the  male  inflates  his 
breast  while  courting  the  female,  thus  showing  off  these 
feathers  to  the  best  advantage.  One  of  the  beautiful 
bronze-winged  pigeons  of  Australia  ( Ocyphaps  lophotes) 
behaves,  as  described  to  me  by  Mr.  Weir,  very  differently : 
the  male,  Avhile  standing  before  the  female,  lowers  his  head 
almost  to  the  ground,  spreads  out  and  raises  perpendicu- 
larly his  tail,  and  half  expands  his  wings.  He  then  alter- 
nately and  slowly  raises  and  depresses  his  body,  so  that 
the  iridescent  metallic  feathers  are  all  seen  at  once,  and 
glitter  in  the  sun. 

Sufticient  facts  have  now  been  given  to  show  with 
what  care  male  birds  display  their  various  charms,  and 
this  they  do  with  the  utmost  skill.  While  preening  their 
feathers,  they  have  frequent  opportunities  for  admiring 
themselves,  and  of  studying  how  best  to  exhibit  their 
beauty.  But  as  all  the  males  of  the  same  species  display 
themselves  in  exactly  tlie  same  manner,  it  appears  that 
actions,  at  first  perhaps  intentional,  have  become  instinc- 
tive. If  so,  we  ought  not  to  accuse  birds  of  conscious 
vanity ;  yet  when  we  see  a  peacock  strutting  about,  with 
exj^anded  and  quivering  tail-feathers,  he  seems  the  very 
emblem  of  pride  and  vanity. 

The  various  ornaments  possessed  by  the  males  are  cer- 
tainly of  the  highest  importance  to  them,  for  they  have 
been  acquired  in  some  cases  at  the  expense  of  greatly-im- 
peded powers  of  flight  or  of  running.  The  African  night- 
jar i^Cosmetornis),  which  during  the  pairing-season  has 
one  of  its  primary  wing-feathers  developed  into  a  streamer 
of  extreme  length,  is  thus  much  retarded  in  its  flight,  !»1- 
though  at  other  times  remarkable  for  its  swiftness.     Tlie 

"  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  ii.  p.  96. 


Chap.  XIII.]  DISPLAY   BY   THE   MALE.  93 

"  unwieldly  size  "  of  the  secondary  wing-feathers  of  the 
male  Argus  pheasant  are  said  "  almost  entirely  to  deprive 
the  bird  of  flight."  The  fine  plumes  of  male  Birds  of 
Paradise  trouble  them  during  a  high  wind.  The  ex- 
tremely long  tail-feathers  of  the  male  widow-birds  (Vidua) 
of  Southern  Africa  render  "  their  flight  heavy  ; "  but  as 
soon  as  these  are  cast  off  they  fly  as  well  as  the  females. 
As  birds  always  breed  when  food  is  abundant,  the  males 
probably  do  not  suffer  much  inconvenience  in  searching 
for  food  from  their  impeded  powers  of  movement ;  but 
there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that  they  must  be  much  more 
liable  to  be  struck  down  by  birds  of  prey.  Nor  can  we 
doubt  that  the  long  train  of  the  peacock  and  the  long  tail 
and  wing  feathers  of  the  Argus  pheasant  must  render 
them  a  more  easy  prey  to  any  prowling  tiger-cat  than 
would  otherwise  be  the  case.  Even  the  bright  colors  of 
many  male  birds  cannot  fail  to  make  them  conspicuous  to 
their  enemies  of  all  kinds.  Hence  it  probably  is,  as  Mr, 
Gould  has  remarked,  that  such  birds  are  generally  of  a 
shy  disposition,  as  if  conscious  that  their  beauty  was  a 
source  of  danger,  and  are  much  more  diflicult  to  discover 
or  approach,  than  the  sombre-colored  and  comparatively 
tame  females,  or  than  the  young  and  as  yet  unadorned 
males.** 

It  is  a  more  curious  fact  that  the  males  of  some  birds 
which  are  provided  with  special  weapons  for  battle,  and 
which  in  a  state  of  nature  are  so  pugnacious  that  they 
often  kill  each  other,  suffer  from  possessing  certain  orna- 

**  On  the  Cosmetornis,  see  Livingstone's  '  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi,' 
1865,  p.  66.  On  the  Argus  pheasant,  Jardine's  'Nat.  Hist.  Lib. :  Birds,' 
vol.  xiv.  p.  167.  On  Birds  of  Paradise,  Lesson,  quoted  by  Brehm, 
'  Thierleben,'  B.  iii.  s.  325.  On  the  widow-bird,  Barrow's  '  Travels  in 
Africa,'  vol.  i.  p.  243,  and  'Ibis,'  vol.  iii.  1861,  p.  133.  Mr.  Gould  on 
the  shyness  of  male  birds,  'Hand-book  to  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol  i.  1865, 
pp.  210,  457. 


94  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

iiK'iits.  Cock-liglitt'rs  trim  the  liackles  and  cut  off  the 
comb  and  gills  of  their  cocks ;  and  the  birds  are  then  said 
to  be  dubbed.  An  undubbed  bird,  as  Mr,  Tegctmeier  in- 
sists, "is  at  a  fearful  disadvantage:  the  comb  and  gills 
otter  an  easy  hold  to  his  adversary's  beak,  and  as  a  cock 
always  strikes  where  he  holds,  when  once  he  has  seized 
his  foe,  he  has  him  entirely  in  his  power.  Even  supposing 
that  the  bird  is  not  killed,  the  loss  of  blood  sutt"ered  l»y  an 
undubbed  cock  is  much  greater  than  that  sustained  by 
one  that  has  been  trimmed."  *'  Young  turkey-cocks  in 
fighting  always  seize  hold  of  each  other's  wattles ;  and  I 
))resume  that  the  old  birds  tight  in  the  same  manner.  It 
may  perhaps  be  objected  that  the  comb  and  wattles  are 
not  ornamental,  and  cannot  be  of  service  to  the  birds  in 
this  way  ;  but  even  to  our  eyes,  the  beauty  of  the  glossy 
black  h>panish  cock  is  much  enhanced  by  his  white  face 
and  crimson  comb;  and  no  one  who  has  ever  seen  the 
splendid  blue  wattles  of  the  male  Tragopan  pheasant, 
when  distended  during  the  act  of  courtship,  can  for  a  mo- 
ment doubt  that  beauty  is  the  object  gained.  From  the 
foregoing  facts  we  clearly  see  that  the  plumes  and  other 
ornaments  of  the  male  must  be  of  the  highest  importance 
to  him;  and  Ave  further  see  that  beauty  in  some  cases  is 
even  more  important  than  success  in  battle, 

8'  Tegetmeier,  'The  Poultry-Book,'  1800,  p.  13<.». 


Chap.  XIV.l  SEXUAL   SELECTION  :  BIRDS.  95 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

BiEDS — continued. 

Choice  exerted  by  the  Female. — Length  of  Courtship. — Unpaired  Birds. — 
Mental  Qualities  and  Taste  for  the  Beautiful.— Preference  or  Antip- 
athy shown  by  the  Female  for  Particular  Males. —  Variability  of 
Birds. — Variations  sometimes  abrupt. — Laws  of  Variation. — Formation 
of  Ocelli. — Gradations  of  Character. — Case  of  Peacock,  Argus  Pheas- 
ant, and  Urosticte. 

Whex  the  sexes  differ  in  beauty,  in  the  power  of  singl- 
ing, or  in  producing  what  I  have  called  instii;mental  mu- 
sic, it  is  almost  invariably  the  male  whicli  excels  the  fe- 
male. These  qualities,  as  we  have  just  seen,  are  evidently 
of  high  importance  to  the  male.  Wlien  they  are  gained 
for  only  a  part  of  the  year,  this  is  always  shortly  before 
the  breeding-season.  It  is  the  male  alone  who  elaborate- 
ly displays  his  varied  attractions,  and  often  performs 
strange  antics  on  the  ground  or  in  the  air,  in  the  presence 
of  the  female.  Each  male  drives  away,  or,  if  he  can,  kills 
all  his  rivals.  Hence  we  may  conclude  that  it  is  the 
object  of  the  male  to  induce  the  female  to  pair  with  him, 
and  for  this  purpose  he  tries  to  excite  or  charm  her  in 
various  ways ;  and  this  is  the  opinion  of  all  those  who 
have  carefully  studied  the  habits  of  living  birds.  But 
there  remains  a  question  which  has  an  all-important  bear- 
ing on  sexual  selection,  namely.  Does  every  male  of  the 
same  species  equally  excite  and  attract  the  female?  or 
does  she  exert  a  choice,  and  prefer  certain  males  ?  This 
question  can  be  answered  in  the  affirmative  by  much  di- 


96  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  XL 

rect  and  iiulircct  evidence.  It  is  much  more  ditlicult  to 
decide  wliat  qualities  determine  the  choice  of  the  females  ; 
but  here  again  we  have  some  direct  and  indirect  evidence 
that  it  is  to  a  large  extent  the  external  attractions  of  the 
male,  though  no  doubt  his  vigor,  courage,  and  other  men- 
tal (lualitics,  come  into  play.  "We  will  begin  with  the  in- 
ilirect  evidence. 

Length  of  Courtship. — The  lengthened  period  during 
which  both  sexes  of  certain  birds  meet  day  after  day  at 
an  appointed  place,  probably  depends  partly  on  the  court- 
ship being  a  prolonged  atlair,  and  partly  on  the  reitera- 
tion of  the  act  of  pairing.  Thus  in  Germany  and  Scandi- 
navia the  balzens  or  leks  of  the  Blackcocks  last  from  the 
middle  of  March,  all  through  April  into  May.  As  many 
as  forty  or  fifty,  or  even  more,  birds  congregate  at  the 
k'ks ;  and  the  same  place  is  often  frequented  during  suc- 
cessive years.  The  lek  of  the  Capercailzie  lasts  from  the 
end  of  March  to  the  middle  or  even  end  of  May.  In 
North  America  "  the  partridge-dances "  of  the  Tetrao 
phasianelltcs  "  last  for  a  month  or  more."  Other  kinds  of 
grouse  both  in  North  America  and  Eastern  Siberia'  fol- 
low nearly  the  same  habits.  The  fowlers  discover  the 
hillocks  where  the  Ruffs  congregate  by  the  grass  being 
trampled  bare,  and  this  shows  that  the  same  spot  is  long 
frequented.  The  Indians  of  Guiana  are  well  acquainted 
with  the  cleared  arenas,  where  they  expect  to  find  the 
beautiful  Cocks  of  the  Rock;  and  the  natives  of  New 
Guinea  know  the  trees  where  from  ten  to  twenty  full-])lu- 
maged  male  Birds  of  Paradise  congregate.     In  this  latter 

'  Nordraann  describes  ('  Bull.  Soc.  Imp.  des  Xat.  Moscow,'  18(51,  tome 
xxxiv.  p.  264)  the  balzen  of  Tetrao  urogalloidcs  iu  Amur  Land.  He  esti- 
mated the  number  of  assembled  males  at  above  a  hundred,  the  females, 
which  lie  hid  in  the  surrounding  bushes,  not  being  counted.  The  noises 
uttered  differ  from  those  of  the  T.  urogaJhis  or  the  capercailzie. 


Chap.  XIV.]  LENGTH   OF   COURTSHIP.  97 

case  it  is  not  expressly  stated  that  the  females  meet  on 
the  same  trees,  but  the  hunters,  if  not  specially  asked, 
would  not  probably  mention  their  presence,  as  their  skins 
are  valueless.  Small  parties  of  an  African  weaver  [Plo- 
ceus)  congregate,  during  the  breeding-season,  and  perform 
for  hours  their  graceful  evolutions.  Large  numbers  of 
the  Solitary  snipe  {Scolopax  major)  assemble  during  the 
dusk  in  a  morass ;  and  the  same  j^lace  is  frequented  for 
the  same  purpose  during  successive  years ;  here  they  may 
be  seen  running  about  "  like  so  many  large  rats,"  puffing 
out  their  feathers,  flapping  their  wings,  and  uttering  the 
strangest  cries." 

Some  of  the  above-mentioned  birds,  namely,  the  black- 
cock, capercailzie,  pheasant-grouse,  the  ruff,  the  Solitary 
snipe,  and  perhaps  some  otliers,  are,  as  it  is  believed,  po- 
lygamists.  With  such  birds  it  might  have  been  thought 
that  the  stronger  males  would  simply  have  driven  away 
the  weaker,  and  then  at  once  have  taken  possession  of  as 
many  females  as  possible ;  but  if  it  be  indispensable  for 
the  male  to  excite  or  please  the  female,  we  can  understand 
the  length  of  the  courtship  and  the  congregation  of  so 
many  individuals  of  both  sexes  at  the  same  spot.  Certain 
species  which  are  strictly  monogamous  likewise  hold  nup- 
tial assemblages ;  this  seems  to  be  the  case  in  Scandinavia 
with  one  of  the  ptarmigans,  and  their  leks  last  from  the 
middle  of  March  to  the  middle  of  May.  In  Australia  the 
lyre-bird  or Menura  superba iorms  "small  round  hillocks," 
and  the  3£.  Alberti  scratches  for  itself  shallow  holes,  or,  as 
they  are  called  by  the  natives,  coirohorying-places,  where 

'  With  respect  to  the  assemblages  of  the  above-named  grouse,  see 
Brehm,  '  Thierleben,'  B.  iv.  s.  350;  also  L.  Lloyd,  'Game-Birds  of  Swe- 
den,' 1867,  pp.  19,  78.  Richardson,  'Fauna  Bor.  Americana,'  Birds,  p. 
362.  References  in  regard  to  the  assemblages  of  other  birds  have  pre- 
Tiously  been  given.  On  Paradisea,  see  Wallace,  in  'Annals  and  Mag.  of 
Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  xx.  1857,  p.  412.  On  the  snipe,  Lloyd,  ibid.  p.  221. 
24 


98  SEXUAL   SELECTION:    BIRDS.  [Part  H. 

it  is  boliL'ved  both  sexes  assemble.  The  meetings  of  the 
M.  superha  are  sometimes  very  large ;  and  an  account  has 
lately  been  published'  by  a  traveller,  who  heard  in  a  val- 
ley beneath  him,  thickly  covered  with  scrub,  "  a  din  which 
completely  astonished "  him ;  on  crawling  onward  he  be- 
held to  his  amazement  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
magnificent  lyre-cocks,  "  ranged  in  order  of  battle,  and 
fighting  with  indescribable  fury,"  The  bowers  of  the 
Bower-birds  are  the  resort  of  both  sexes  during  the 
breeding-season  ;  and  "  here  the  males  meet  and  contend 
with  each  other  for  the  favors  of  the  female,  and  here  the 
latter  assemble  and  coquet  with  the  males."  With  two 
of  the  genera,  the  same  bower  is  resorted  to  during  many 
years.* 

The  common  magpie  {Corvus  pica,  Linn.),  as  I  have 
been  informed  by  the  Rev.  W.  Darwin  Fox,  used  to  as- 
semble from  all  parts  of  Delamere  Forest,  in  order  to 
celebrate  the  "  great  magpie  marriage."  Some  years  ago 
these  birds  abounded  in  extraordinary  numbers,  so  that  a 
gamekeeper  killed  in  one  morning  nineteen  males,  and 
another  killed  by  a  single  shot  seven  birds  at  roost  together. 
While  they  were  so  numerous,  they  had  the  habit  very 
early  in  the  spring  of  assembling  at  particular  spots,  where 
they  could  be  seen  in  flocks,  chattering,  sometimes  fight- 
ing, bustling  and  flying  about  the  trees.  The  whole  afiair 
was  evidently  considered  by  the  birds  as  of  the  highest 
importance.  Shortly  after  the  meeting  they  all  separated, 
and  were  then  observed  by  Mr.  Fox  and  others  to  be 
paired  for  the  season.  In  any  district  in  which  a  species 
does  not  exist  in  large  numbers,  great  assemblages  cannot, 
of  course,  be  held,  and  the  same  species  may  have  differ- 
ent habits  in  different  countries.     For  instance,  I  have 

*  Quoted  by  Mr.  T.  W,  Wood  iu  the  'Student,'  April,  1870,  p.  126. 

*  Gould,  'Hand-book  of  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  pp.  300,  308,  448 
451.     On  the  ptarmigan,  above  alluded  to,  see  Lloyd,  ibid.  p.  129. 


Chap.  XIV.]  UNPAIRED   BIRDS.  99 

never  met  with  any  account  of  regular  assemblages  of 
black  game  in  Scotland,  yet  these  assemblages  are  so  well 
known  in  Germany  and  Scandinavia  that  they  have  spe- 
cial names. 

Unpaired  Birds. — From  the  facts  now  given,  we  may 
conclude  that  with  birds  belonging  to  widely-different 
groups  their  courtship  is  often  a  prolonged,  delicate,  and 
troublesome  affair.  There  is  even  reason  to  suspect,  im- 
probable as  this  will  at  first  appear,  that  some  males  and 
females  of  the  same  species,  inhabiting  the  same  district, 
do  not  always  please  each  other,  and  in  consequence  do 
not  pair.  Many  accounts  have  been  published  of  either 
the  male  or  female  of  a  pair  having  been  shot,  and  quickly 
replaced  by  another.  This  has  been  observed  more  fre- 
quently with  the  magpie  than  with  any  other  bird,  owing 
perhaps  to  its  conspicuous  appearance  and  nest.  The 
illustrious  Jenner  states  that  in  Wiltshire  one  of  a  pair 
was  daily  shot  no  less  than  seven  times  successively,  "  but 
all  to  no  purpose,  for  the  remaining  magpie  soon  found 
another  mate ;  "  and  the  last  pair  reared  their  young.  A 
new  partner  is  generally  found  on  the  succeeding  day ; 
but  Mr.  Thompson  gives  the  case  of  one  being  replaced 
on  the  evening  of  the  same  day.  Even  after  the  eggs  are 
hatched,  if  one  of  the  old  birds  is  destroyed,  a  mate  will 
often  be  found ;  this  occurred  after  an  interval  of  two  days, 
in  a  case  recently  observed  by  one  of  Sir  J.  Lubbock's 
keepers.'  The  first  and  most  obvious  conjecture  is,  that 
male  magpies  must  be  much  more  numerous  th"an  the  fe- 
males ;  and  that  in  the  above  cases,  as  well  as  in  many  oth- 
ers which  could  be  given,  the  males  alone  had  been  killed. 
This  apparently  holds  good  in  some   instances,  for   the 

*  On  magpies,  Jenner,  in  'Phil.  Transact.'  1824,  p.  21.  Macgillivray, 
'  Hist.  British  Birds,'  vol.  i.  p.  570.  Thompson,  in  '  Amials  and  Mag.  of 
Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  viii.  1842,  p.  494. 


100  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

gamc-kecpcrs  in  Delamere  Forest  assured  Mr.  Fox  that 
the  magpies  and  carrion-crows  which  they  formerly  killed 
in  succession  in  large  numbers  near  their  nests  were  all 
males ;  and  they  accounted  for  this  fact  by  the  males  be- 
ing easily  killed  while  bringing  food  to  the  sitting  females. 
Macgillivray,  however,  gives,  on  the  authority  of  an  ex- 
cellent observer,  an  instance  of  three  magpies  successively 
killed  on  the  same  nest,  which  were  all  females ;  and  an- 
other case  of  six  magpies  successively  killed  while  sitting 
on  the  same  eggs,  which  renders  it  probable  that  most  of 
them  were  females,  though  the  male  will  sit  on  the  eggs, 
as  I  hear  from  Mr.  Fox,  when  the  female  is  killed. 

Sir  J.  Lubbock's  game-keeper  has  repeatedly  shot,  but 
how  many  times  he  could  not  say,  one  of  a  pair  of  jays 
{Garrulus  fflandarius),  and  has  never  failed  shortly  after- 
ward to  find  the  survivor  rematched.  The  Rev.  W.  D. 
Fox,  Mr.  F.  Bond,  and  others,  have  shot  one  of  a  pair  of 
carrion-crows  (Corvus  corone),  but  the  nest  was  soon 
again  tenanted  Isy  a  pair.  These  birds  are  rather  com- 
mon; but  the  peregrine  falcon  [Falco  peregriynis)  is  rare, 
yet  Mr.  Thom])8on  states  that  in  Ireland  "  if  either  an  old 
male  or  female  be  killed  in  the  breeding-season  (not  an 
uncommon  circumstance),  another  mate  is  found  within  a 
very  few  days,  so  that  the  eyries,  notwithstanding  such 
casualties,  are  sure  to  turn  out  their  complement  of  young." 
Mr.  Jenner  Weir  has  known  the  same  tiling  to  occur  with 
the  peregrine  falcons  at  Beachy  Head.  The  same  observer 
informs  me  that  three  kestrels,  all  males  [Falco  tinnuncu- 
lus),  were  killed  one  after  the  otlur  while  attending  the 
same  nest ;  two  of  these  were  in  mature  plumage,  and  the 
third  in  the  plumage  of  the  previous  year.  Even  with  the 
rare  golden  eagle  (Aguila  chrysa'etos),  Mr.  Birkbeck  was 
assured  by  a  trustworthy  gamc>-keoper  in  Scotland,  that  if 
one  is  killed,  another  is  soon  found.  So  with  the  white 
)wl  (Strixjlainmea),  it  has  been  observed  that  "  the  sur- 


Chap.  XIV.]  UNPAIRED   BIRDS.  101 

vivor    readily   found    a    mate,   and    the    mischief  went 
on." 

White  of  Selborne,  who  gives  the  case  of  the  owl, 
adds  that  he  knew  a  man  who,  from  believing  that  par- 
tridges when  paired  were  disturbed  by  the  males  fighting, 
used  to  shoot  them ;  and,  though  he  had  widowed  the 
same  female  several  times,  she  was  always  soon  provided 
with  a  fresh  pai'tner.  This  same  naturalist  ordered  the 
sparrows,  which  deprived  the  house-martins  of  their  nests, 
to  be  shot:  but  the  one  which  was  left,  "be  it  cock  or 
hen,  presently  procured  a  mate,  and  so  for  several  times 
following."  I  could  add  analogous  cases  relating  to  the 
chaffinch,  nightingale,  and  redstart.  "With  respect  to  the 
latter  bird  (  Phmnicura  ruticilla),  the  writer  remarks  that 
it  was  by  no  means  common  in  the  neighborhood,  and  he 
expresses  much  surprise  how  the  sitting  female  could  so 
soon  give  effectual  notice  that  she  was  a  widow.  Mr. 
Jenner  Weir  has  mentioned  to  me  a  nearly  similar  case  : 
at  Blackheath  he  never  sees  or  hears  the  note  of  the  wild 
bullfinch,  yet  when  one  of  his  caged  males  has  died,  a 
wild  one  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  has  generally  come 
and  perched  near  the  widowed  female,  whose  call-note  is 
far  from  loud.  I  will  give  only  one  other  fact,  on  the 
authority  of  this  same  observer ;  one  of  a  pair  of  starlings 
[Sturnus  vulgaris)  was  shot  in  the  morning ;  by  noon  a 
new  mate  was  found  ;  this  was  again  shot,  but  before 
night  the  pair  was  complete ;  so  that  the  disconsolate 
widow  or  widower  was  thrice  consoled  during  the  same 
day.  Mr.  Engleheart  also  informs  me  that  he  used  dur- 
ing several  years  to  shoot  one  of  a  pair  of  starlings  which 
built  in  a  hole  in  a  house  at  Blackheath ;  but  the  loss  was 
always  immediately  repaired.  During  one  season  he 
kept  an  account  and  found  that  he  had  shot  thirty-five 
birds  from  the  same  nest ;  these  consisted  of  both  males 
and  females,  but  in  what  proportion  he  could  not  say : 


102  SEXUAL  SELECTIOX :  BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

nevertheless    after    all    this    destruction,   a   brood   was 
reared." 

These  facts  are  certainly  remarkahle.  How  is  it  that 
so  many  birds  are  ready  immediately  to  replace  a  lost 
mate  ?  Magpies,  jays,  carrion-crows,  partridges,  and 
some  other  birds,  are  never  seen  during  the  spring  by 
themselves,  and  these  oflfer  at  first  sight  the  most  perplex- 
ing case.  But  birds  of  the  same  sex,  although  of  course 
not  truly  paired,  sometimes  live  in  pairs  or  in  small  par- 
ties, as  is  known  to  be  the  case  with  pigeons  and  par- 
tridges. Birds  also  sometimes  live  in  triplets,  as  has  been 
observed  with  starlings,  carrion-crows,  parrots,  and  par- 
tridges. With  partridges  two  females  have  been  known 
to  live  with  one  male,  and  two  males  with  one  female. 
In  all  such  cases  it  is  probable  that  the  union  would  be 
easily  broken.  The  males  of  certain  birds  may  occasion- 
ally be  heard  jiouring  forth  their  love-song  long  after  the 
proper  time,  showing  that  they  have  either  lost  or  never 
gained  a  mate.  Death  from  accident  or  disease  of  either 
one  of  a  pair,  would  leave  ^he  other  bird  free  and  single  ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  female  birds  during  the 
breeding-season  are  especially  liable  to  premature  death. 
Again,  birds  which  have  had  their  nests  destroyed,  or 
barren  pairs,  or  retarded  individuals,  would  easily  be  in- 
duced to  desert  their  mates,  and  would  probably  be  glad 
to  take  what  sliare  they  could  of  the  pleasures  and  duties 
of  rearing  offspring,  although  not  their  own.'     Such  con- 

'  On  the  Peregrine  falcon  see  Thompson,  '  N'at.  Hist,  of  Ireland : 
Birds,'  vol.  i.  1849,  p.  39.  On  owls,  sparrows,  and  partridges,  see  White, 
'Nat.  Hist,  of  Selborne,'  edit,  of  1825,  vol.  i.  p.  139.  On  the  Pha?nicura, 
see  Loudon's  'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  vii.  1834,  p.  245.  Brehni  ('Thier- 
leben,'  B.  iv.  s.  991)  also  alludes  to  cases  of  birds  thrice  mated  during 
same  day. 

">  See  White  ('Nat.  Ili.-^t.  of  Selborne,'  1825,  vol.  i.  p.  140)  on  the  ex- 
istence, carl}-  in  the  season,  of  small  coveys  of  male  partridges,  of  which 
fact  1  have  heard  other  instances.     See  Jeimer,  on  the  retarded  state  of 


Chap.  XIV.]  MENTAL   QUALITIES.  103 

tingencies  as  these  probably  explain  most  of  the  foregoing 
cases.*  Nevertheless  it  is  a  strange  fact  that  within  the 
same  district,  during  the  height  of  the  breeding-season, 
there  should  be  so  many  males  and  females  always  ready 
to  repair  the  loss  of  a  mated  bird.  Why  do  not  such 
spare  birds  immediately  pair  together  ?  Have  we  not 
some  reason  to  suspect,  and  the  suspicion  has  occurred  to 
Mr.  Jenner  Weir,  that  inasmuch  as  the  act  of  courtship 
appears  to  be  with  many  birds  a  prolonged  and  tedious 
affair,  so  it  occasionally  happens  that  certain  males  and 
females  do  not  succeed,  during  the  proper  season,  in  ex- 
citing each  other's  love,  and  consequently  do  not  pair? 
This  suspicion  will  appear  somewhat  less  improbable  after 
we  have  seen  what  strong  antipathies  and  preferences  fe- 
male birds  occasionally  evince  toward  particular  males. 

Mental  Qualities  of  Birds  and  their  Taste  for  the 
^Beautiful. — Before  we  discuss  any  further  the  question 
whether  the  females  select  the  more  attractive  males,  or 

the  generative  organs  in  certain  birds,  in  'Phil.  Transact.'  1824.  In  re- 
gard to  birds  living  in  triplets,  I  owe  to  Mr.  Jemier  Weir  the  cases  of 
the  starling  and  parrots,  and  to  Mr.  Fox,  of  partridges ;  on  carrion-crows, 
see  the  '  Field,'  1868,  p.  415.  On  various  male  birds  singing  after  the 
proper  period,  see  Rev.  L.  Jenyns,  '  Observations  in  Natural  History,' 
1846,  p.  87. 

*  The  following  case  has  been  given  ('  The  Times,'  Aug.  6,  1868)  by 
the  Rev.  F.  0.  Morris,  on  the  authority  of  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  0.  W.  For- 
ester. "  The  game-keeper  here  found  a  hawk's  nest  this  year,  with  five 
young  ones  in  it.  He  took  four  and  killed  them,  but  left  one  with  its 
wings  clipped  as  a  decoy  to  destroy  the  old  ones  by.  They  were  both 
shot  next  day  in  the  act  of  feeding  the  young  one,  and  the  keeper  thought 
it  was  done  with.  The  next  day  he  came  again  and  found  two  other 
charitable  hawks,  who  had  come  with  an  adopted  feeling  to  succor  the 
orphan.  These  two  he  killed,  and  then  left  the  nest.  On  returning  af- 
terward- he  found  two  more  charitable  individuals  on  the  same  errand  of 
mercy.  One  of  these  he  killed ;  the  other  he  also  shot,  but  could  not 
fiiid.     No  more  came  on  the  like  fruitless  errand." 


104  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

accept  the  first  whom  they  may  encounter,  it  will  be  ad- 
visal)le  briefly  to  consider  the  mental  powers  of  birds. 
Their  reason  is  jrenerally,  and  perhaps  justly,  ranked  as 
low;  yet  some  facts  could  be  given"  leading  to  an  oppo- 
site conclusion.  Low  powers  of  reasoning,  however,  are 
compatible,  as  we  see  with  mankind,  with  strong  affec- 
tions, acute  perception,  and  a  taste  for  the  beautiful ;  and 
it  is  with  these  latter  qualities  that  we  are  here  concerned. 
It  has  often  been  said  that  parrots  become  so  deeply  at- 
tached to  each  other  tliat  when  one  dies  the  other  for  a 
long  time  pines  ;  but  ]Mr.  Jenner  Weir  thinks  that  Avith 
most  birds  the  strength  of  their  affection  has  been  much 
exaggerated.  Nevertheless  when  one  of  a  pair  in  a  state 
of  nature  has  been  shot,  the  survivor  has  been  heard  for 
days  afterward  uttering  a  plaintive  call ;  and  Mr.  St.  John 
gives"  various  facts  proving  the  attachment  of  mated 
birds.  Starlings,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  may  be  con- 
soled thrice  in  the  same  day  for  the  loss  of  their  mates. 
In  the  Zoological  Gardens  parrots  have  clearly  recognized 
their  former  masters  after  an  interval  of  some  months. 
Pigeons  have  such  excellent  local  memories  that  they 
have  been  known  to  return  to  their  former  homes  after  an 
interval  of  nine  months,  yet,  as  I  hear  from  Mr.  Harrison 
Weir,  if  a  pair  which  would  naturally  remain  mated  for 
life  be  separated  for  a  few  weeks  during  the  winter  and 
matched  with  other  birds,  the  two,  when  brouglit  together 
again,  rarely,  if  ever,  recognize  each  other. 

Birds  sometimes  exhibit  benevolent  feelings  ;  they  will 

'  For  instance,  Mr.  Yarrell  states  ('  Hist.  British  Birds,'  vol.  iii.  1845, 
p.  585)  that  a  gull  was  not  able  to  swallow  a  small  bird  which  had  been 
given  to  it.  The  gull  "  paused  for  a  moment,  and  then,  as  if  suddenly 
recollecting  himself,  ran  off  at  full  speed  to  a  pan  of  water,  shook  the 
bird  about  in  it  until  well  soaked,  and  immediately  gulped  it  down. 
Since  that  time  he  invariably  has  had  recourse  to  the  same  expedient  in 
similar  cases." 

'<•  'Tour  in  Sutherlandshire,'  vol.  i.  1849,  p.  185. 


Chap.  XIV.]  MENTAL   QUALITIES.  ,  105 

feed  the  deserted  young  even  of  distinct  species,  but  this 
perhaps  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  mistaken  instinct. 
They  will  also  feed,  as  shown  in  an  earlier  part  of  this 
work,  adult  birds  of  their  own  species  which  have  become 
blind.  Mr.  Buxton  gives  a  curious  account  of  a  parrot 
which  took  care  of  a  frost-bitten  and  crippled  bird  of  a 
distinct  species,  cleansed  her  feathers  and  defended  her 
from  the  attacks  of  the  other  parrots  which  roamed  freely 
about  his  garden.  It  is  a  still  more  curious  fact  that 
these  birds  apparently  evince  some  sympathy  for  the 
pleasures  of  their  fellows.  When  a  pair  of  cockatoos 
made  a  nest  in  an  acacia-tree,  "  it  was  ridiculous  to  see 
the  extravagant  interest  taken  in  the  matter  by  the  others 
of  tne  same  species."  These  parrots,  also,  evinced  un- 
bounded curiosity,  and  clearly  had  "  the  idea  of  property 
and  possession."  '^ 

Birds  possess  acute  powers  of  observation.  Every 
mated  bird,  of  course,  recognizes  its  fellow.  Audubon 
states  that  with  the  mocking-thrushes  of  the  United  States 
[Jifiinus  polyglottus)  a  certain  number  remain  all  the  year 
round  in  Louisiana,  while  the  others  migrate  to  the  East- 
ern States ;  these  latter,  on  their  return,  are  instantly 
recognized,  and  always  attacked,  by  their  Southern  breth- 
ren. Bii'ds  under  confinement  distinguish  different  per- 
sons, as  is  proved  by  the  strong  and  permanent  antipathy 
or  alFection  which  they  show,  without  any  apparent  cause, 
toward  certain  individuals.  I  have  heard  of  numerous 
instances  with  jays,  partridges,  canaries,  and  especially 
bullfinches.  Mr.  Hussy  has  described  in  how  extraordi- 
nary a  manner  a  tame  partridge  recognized  everybody ; 
and  its  likes  and  dislikes  were  very  strong.  This  bird 
seemed  "  fond  of  gay  colors,  and  no  new  gown  or  cap 

"  Acclimatization  of  Parrots,'  by  C.  Buxton,  M.  P.  '  Annals  and 
Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  Nov.  1868,  p.  381. 


106  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

could  be  put  on  without  catchinj^  his  attention."  "  Mr. 
Hewitt  has  carefully  described  the  habits  of  some  ducks 
(recently  descended  from  wild  birds),  which,  at  the  ap- 
proach of  a  strange  dog  or  cat,  would  rush  headlong  into 
the  water,  and  exhaust  themselves  in  their  attempts  to  es- 
cape ;  but  they  knew  so  well  Mr.  Hewitt's  own  dogs  and 
cats  that  they  would  lie  down  and  bask  in  the  sun  close  to 
them.  They  always  moved  away  from  a  strange  man, 
and  so  they  would  from  the  lady  who  attended  them  if 
she  made  any  great  change  iu  her  dress.  Audubon  relates 
that  he  reared  and  tamed  a  wild-turkey  which  always  ran 
away  from  any  strange  dog ;  this  bird  escaped  into  the 
woods,  and  some  days  afterward  Audubon  saw,  as  he 
thought,  a  wild-turkey,  and  made  his  dog  chase  it ;  but  to 
his  astonishment,  the  bird  did  not  run  away,  and  the  dog, 
when  he  came  up,  did  not  attack  the  bird,  for  they  mutu- 
ally recognized  each  other  as  old  friends.'^ 

Mr.  Jenner  Weir  is  convinced  that  birds  pay  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  colors  of  other  birds,  sometimes  out  of 
jealousy,  and  sometimes  as  a  sign  of  kinship.  Thus  he 
turned  a  reed-bunting  [Ember iza  schcenlculus)^  which  had 
acquired  its  black  head,  into  his  aviary,  and  the  new-comer 
was  not  noticed  by  any  bird,  except  by  a  bullfinch,  which 
is  likewise  black-headed.  This  bullfinch  was  a  very  quiet 
bird,  and  had  never  before  quarrelled  with  any  of  its  com- 
rades, including  another  reed-bunting,  which  had  not  as 
yet  become  black-headed:  but  the  reed-bunting  with  a 
black  head  was  so  iininercifuUy  treated,  that  it  had  to  be 
removed.  Mr.  Weir  was  also  obliged  to  turn  out  a  robin, 
as  it  fiercely  attacked  all  bii-ds  with  any  red  in  their  plu- 
mage, but  no  other  kinds;  it  actually  killed  a  red-breasted 

>2  'The  Zoologist,'  1 847-1848,  p.  1602. 

"  Hewitt  on  wild  ducks,  'Journal  of  Horticulture,'  Jan.  13,  1863,  p. 
39.  Audubon  on  the  wild-turkey,  'Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  14.  On 
the  mocking  thrush,  ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  110. 


Chap.  XIV.]        TASTE   FOR   THE   BEAUTIFUL.  107 

crossbill,  and  nearly  killed  a  goldfinch.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  has  observed  that  some  birds,  when  first  intro- 
duced into  his  aviary,  fly  toward  the  species  which  re- 
semble them  most  in  color,  and  settle  by  their  sides. 

As  male  birds  display  with  so  much  care  their  fine 
plumage  and  other  ornaments  in  the  presence  of  the  fe- 
males, it  is  obviously  probable  that  tliese  appreciate  the 
beauty  of  their  suitors.  It  is,  howevei",  difticult  to  obtain 
direct  evidence  of  their  capacity  to  appreciate  beauty. 
When  birds  gaze  at  themselves  in  a  looking-glass  ( of 
which  many  instances  have  been  recorded)  we  cannot  feel 
sure  that  it  is  not  from  jealousy  at  a  supposed  rival, 
though  this  is  not  the  conclusion  of  some  observers.  In 
other  cases  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  between  mere  curi- 
osity and  admiration.  It  is  perhaps  the  former  feeling 
which,  as  stated  by  Lord  Lilford,^*  attracts  the  Ruff 
strongly  toward  any  bright  object,  so  that,  in  the  Ionian 
Islands,  it  "will  dart  down  to  a  bright-colored  handker- 
chief, regardless  of  repeated  shots."  The  common  lark  is 
drawn  down  from  the  sky,  and  is  caught  in  large  numbers, 
by  a  small  mirror  made  to  move  and  glitter  in  the  sun. 
Is  it  admiration  or  curiosity  which  leads  the  magpie, 
raven,  and  some  other  birds,  to  steal  and  secrete  bright 
objects,  such  as  silver  articles  or  jewels? 

Mr.  Gould  states  that  certain  humming-birds  decorate 
the  outside  of  their  nests  "  with  the  utmost  taste ;  they 
instinctively  fasten  thereon  beautiful  pieces  of  flat  lichen, 
the  larger  pieces  in  the  middle,  and  the  smaller  on  the  part 
attached  to  the  branch.  Now  and  then  a  pretty  feather 
is  intertwined  or  fastened  to  the  outer  sides,  the  stem 
being  always  so  placed  that  the  feather  stands  out  beyond 
the  surface."  The  best  evidence,  however,  of  a  taste  for 
the  beautiful  is  afforded  by  the  three  genera  of  Australian 
bower-birds  already  mentioned.  Their  bowers  (see  Fig. 
"  The  '  Ibis,'  vol.  ii.  1860,  p.  344. 


108  SEXUAL   SELECTION':   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

46,  p.  GV),  where  the  sexes  congregate  and  play  strange 
antics,  are  differently  constructed,  bnt  what  most  concerns 
us  is,  that  tliey  are  decorated  in  a  different  manner  by  the 
several  species.  The  Sntin  l)ower-bird  collects  gayly-col- 
ored  articles,  such  as  the  blue  tail-feathers  of  parrakeets, 
bleached  bones  and  shells,  which  it  sticks  between  the 
twigs,  or  arranges  at  the  entrance.  Mr,  Gould  found  in 
one  bower  a  neatly-worked  stone  tomahawk  and  a  slip  of 
blue  cotton,  evidently  procured  from  a  native  encampment. 
These  objects  are  continually  rearranged,  and  carried  about 
by  the  birds  while  at  play.  The  bower  of  the  Spotted 
bowei*-bii"d  "  is  beautifully  lined  with  tall  grasses,  so  dis- 
posed that  the  heads  nearly  meet,  and  the  decorations  are 
very  profuse."  Round  stones  are  used  to  keep  the  grass- 
stems  in  their  proper  places,  and  to  make  divergent  paths 
leading  to  the  bower.  The  stones  and  shells  are  often 
brouglit  from  a  great  distance.  The  Regent-bird,  as  de- 
scribed by  Mr.  Ramsay,  ornaments  its  short  bower' with 
bleached  land-shells  belonging  to  five  or  six  species,  and 
with  "berries  of  various  colors,  blue,  red,  and  black,  which 
give  it  when  fresh  a  very  pretty  appearance.  Besides 
these  there  were  several  newly-picked  leaves  and  young 
shoots  of  a  pinkish  color,  the  whole  showing  a  decided 
taste  for  the  beautiful."  Well  may  Mr.  Gould  say  "  these 
highly-decorated  halls  of  assembly  must  be  regarded  as 
the  most  wonderful  instances  of  bird-architecture  yet  dis- 
covered ; "  and  the  taste,  as  we  see,  of  the  several  species 
certainly  difiers." 

Preference  for  Particulnr  Males  by  the  Females. — 
Having  made  these  preliminary  remarks  on  the  discrimi- 

"■  On  the  ornamented  nests  of  hizmminfr-liirds,  Gould,  '  Introduction 
to  the  Trochilidre,  1861,  p.  19.  On  the  bower-birds,  Gould,  'Hand-book 
to  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  1865,  vol.  i.  pp.  444-401.  Mr.  Ramsay  in  the 
'Ibis,'  1867,  p.  456. 


Chap.  XIV.]         PREFERENCE   BY   THE   FEMALE.  109 

nation  and  taste  of  birds,  I  will  give  all  the  facts  known 
to  me,  which  bear  on  the  preference  shown  by  the  female 
for  particular  males.  It  is  certain  that  distinct  species  of 
birds  occasionally  pair  in  a  state  of  nature  and  produce 
hybrids.  Many  instances  could  be  given :  thus  Macgil- 
livray  relates  how  a  male  blackbird  and  female  thrush 
"fell  in  love  with  each  othei',"  and  produced  offspring." 
Several  years  ago  eighteen  cases  had  been  recorded  of 
the  occurrence  in  Great  Britain  of  hybrids  between  the 
black  grouse  and  pheasant ;  "  but  most  of  these  cases  may 
perhaps  be  accounted  for  by  solitary  birds  not  finding  one 
of  their  own  species  to  pair  with.  With  other  birds,  as 
Mr.  Jenner  Weir  has  reason  to  believe,  hybrids  ai-e  some- 
times the  result  of  the  casual  intercourse  of  birds  building 
in  close  proximity.  But  these  remarks  do  not  apply  to  the 
many  recorded  instances  of  tamed  or  domestic  birds,  be- 
longing to  distinct  species,  which  have  become  absolutely 
fascinated  with  each  other,  although  living  with  their  own 
species.  Thus  Waterton  "  states  that  out  of  a  flock  of 
twenty-three  Canada  geese,  a  female  paired  with  a  solitary 
Bernicle  gander,  although  so  different  in  appearance  and 
size ;  and  they  produced  hybrid  offspring.  A  male  Wig- 
eon  {Mareca  penelope),  living  with  females  of  the  same 
species,  has  been  known  to  pair  with  a  Pintail  duck,  ^wer- 
qtcedula  acuta.  Lloyd  describes  the  remarkable  attach- 
ment between  a  shield-drake  (Tadorna  vulpanser)  and  a 
common  duck.  Many  additional  instances  could  be  given ; 
and  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Dixon  remarks  that  "  those  who  have 

"  '  Hist,  of  British  Birds,'  vol.  ii.  p.  92. 

"  'Zoologist,'  1853-1854,  p.  3946. 

'8  Waterton,  'Essays  on  Nat.  Hist.'  2d  series,  pp.  42,  11 7.  For  tbe 
following  statements,  see,  on  the  wigeon,  Loudon's  '  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.' 
vol.  ix.  p.  616 ;  L.  Lloyd,  '  Scandinavian  Adventures,'  vol.  i.  1854,  p.  452  ; 
Dixon,  'Ornamental  and  Domestic  Poultry,'  p.  137;  Hewitt,  in  'Journal 
of  Horticulture,'  Jan.  13,  1863,  p.  40;  Bechstein,  '  Stubenvogel,'  1840, 
s.  230. 


110  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

kept  many  different  species  of  gccsc  together,  well  know 
what  unaccountable  attachments  they  are  frequently  form- 
ing, and  that  they  are  quite  as  likely  to  pair  and  rear 
young  with  individuals  of  a  race  (species)  apparently  the 
most  alien  to  themselves,  as  with  their  own  stock," 

The  Rev.  W.  D.  Fox  informs  me  that  he  possessed  at 
the  same  time  a  pair  of  Chinese  geese  [Anser  cygnokles), 
and  a  coinmon  gander  with  three  geese.  The  two  lots 
kept  quite  separate,  until  the  Chinese  gander  seduced  one 
of  the  common  geese  to  live  with  him.  Moreover,  of  the 
young  birds  hatched  from  the  eggs  of  the  common  geese, 
only  four  were  pure,  the  other  eighteen  proving  hybrids ; 
so  that  the  Chinese  gander  seems  to  have  had  prepotent 
charms  over  the  common  gander.  I  will  give  only  one 
other  case ;  Mr.  Hewitt  states  that  a  wild-duck,  reared  in 
captivity,  "  after  breeding  a  couple  of  seasons  with  her  own 
mallard,  at  once  shook  him  off  on  my  placing  a  male  Pin- 
tail on  the  water.  It  was  evidently  a  case  of  love  at  first 
sight,  for  she  swam  about  the  new-comer  caressingly, 
though  he  appeared  evidently  alarmed  and  averse  to  her 
overtures  of  affection.  From  that  hour  she  forgot  her  old 
partner.  Winter  passed  by,  and  the  next  spring  the  Pintail 
seemed  to  have  become  a  convert  to  her  blandishments, 
for  thej'  nested  and  produced  seven  or  eight  young  ones." 

What  the  charm  may  have  been  in  these  several  cases, 
beyond  mere  novelty,  we  cannot  even  conjecture.  Color, 
however,  sometimes  comes  into  play  ;  for  in  order  to  raise 
hybrids  from  the  siskin  {Prinf/iUa  sphms)  and  the  canary, 
it  is  much  the  best  plan,  according  to  Bechstein,  to  place 
birds  of  the  same  tint  together.  Mr.  Jenner  Weir  turned 
a  female  canary  into  his  aviary,  where  there  were  male 
linnets,  goldfinches,  siskins,  greenfinches,  chatfinches,  and 
other  birds,  in  order  to  see  which  she  would  choose  ;  but 
there  never  was  any  doubt,  and  the  greenfinch  carried  the 
day.     They  ^laired  and  produced  hybrid  offspring. 


Chap.  XIV.]        PREFEREXCE   BY  THE  FEMALE.  m 

With  the  members  of  the  same  species  the  fact  of  the 
female  preferring  to  pair  with  one  male  rather  than  with 
another  is  not  so  likely  to  excite  attention,  as  when  this 
occurs  between  distinct  species.  Such  cases  can  best  be 
observed  with  domesticated  or  confined  birds  ;  but  these 
are  often  pampered  by  high  feeding,  and  sometimes  have 
their  instincts  vitiated  to  an  extreme  degree.  Of  this  lat- 
ter fact  I  could  give  sufficient  proofs  with  pigeons,  and 
especially  with  fowls,  but  they  cannot  be  here  related. 
Vitiated  instincts  may  also  account  for  some  of  the  hybrid 
unions  above  referred  to ;  but  in  many  of  these  cases  the 
birds  were  allowed  to  range  freely  over  large  ponds,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were  unnaturally 
stimulated  by  high  feeding. 

With  respect  to  birds  in  a  state  of  nature,  the  first  and 
most  obvious  supposition  which  will  occur  to  every  one  is 
that  the  female  at  the  proper  season  accepts  the  first  male 
whom  she  may  encounter ;  but  she  has  at  least  the  oppor- 
tunity for  exerting  a  choice,  as  she  is  almost  invariably 
pursued  by  many  males.  Audubon — and  we  must  remem- 
ber that  he  spent  a  long  life  in  prowling  about  the  forests 
of  the  United  States  and  observing  the  birds — does  not 
doubt  that  the  female  deliberately  chooses  her  mate :  thus, 
speaking  of  a  woodpecker,  he  says  the  hen  is  followed  by 
half  a  dozen  gay  suitors,  who  continue  performing  strange 
antics,  "  until  a  marked  preference  is  shown  for  one." 
The  female  of  the  red-winged  starling  [Agelceus  phmnice- 
us)  is  likewise  pursued  by  several  males, "  until,  becoming 
fatigued,  she  alights,  receives  their  addresses,  and  soon 
makes  a  choice."  He  describes  also  how  several  male 
night-jars  repeatedly  plunge  through  the  air  with  as- 
tonishing rapidity,  suddenly  turning,  and  thus  making  a 
singular  noise ;  "  but  no  sooner  has  the  female  made  her 
choice,  than  the  other  males  are  driven  away."  With  one 
of  the  vultures   {Cathartes  aura)   of  the  United  States, 


112  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

parties  of  eight  or  ten  or  more  males  and  females  assem- 
ble on  ftiUen  logs,  "exhibiting  the  strongest  desire  to 
please  mutually,"  and  after  many  caresses,  each  male 
leads  oft"  his  partner  on  tl)e  wLng.  Audubon  likewise  care- 
fully observed  the  wild  flocks  of  Canada  geese  {Anser 
Canadensis),  and  gives  a  graphic  description  of  their 
love-antics ;  he  says  that  the  birds  which  had  been  j^re- 
viously  mated  "  renewed  their  courtship  as  early  as  the 
month  of  January,  while  the  others  would  be  contend- 
ing or  coquetting  for  hours  every  day,  until  all  seemed 
satisfied  with  the  choice  they  had  made,  after  which,  al- 
though they  remained  together,  any  person  could  easily 
perceive  that  they  were  careful  to  keep  in  pairs.  I  have 
observed  also  that  the  older  the  birds,  the  shorter  were 
the  preliminaries  of  their  courtship.  The  bachelors  and 
old  maids,  whether  in  regret  or  not  caring  to  be  disturbed 
by  the  bustle,  quietly  moved  aside  and  lay  down  at  some 
distance  from  the  rest."  "  Many  similar  statements  with 
respect  to  other  birds  could  be  cited  from  this  same  ob- 
server. 

Turning  now  to  domesticated  and  confined  birds,  I 
will  commence  by  giving  what  little  I  have  learned  re- 
specting the  courtship  of  fowls.  I  have  received  long  let- 
ters on  this  subject  from  Messrs.  Hewitt  and  Tegetmeier, 
and  almost  an  essay  from  the  late  ]\[r.  Brent.  It  will  be 
admitted  by  every  one  that  these  gentlemen,  so  well 
known  from  their  published  works,  are  careful  and  expe- 
rienced observers.  Tliey  do  not  believe  that  the  females 
]nTfer  certain  males  on  account  of  the  beauty  of  their  plu- 
mage ;  but  some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  artificial 
state  under  which  they  have  long  been  kept.  Mr.  Teget- 
meier is  convinced  that  a  game-cock,  though  disfigured 
by  being  dubbed  with  his  hackles  trimmed,  would  be  ac- 

'•  Audubon,  '  Ornitholog.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  pp.  101,  349;  vol.  ii.  pp. 
42,  275  ;  vol.  iii.  p.  2. 


Chap.  XIV.]        PREFERENCE   BY   THE   FEMALE.  II3 

cepted  as  readily  as  a  male  retaining  all  his  natural  orna- 
ments. Mr.  Brent,  however,  admits  that  the  beauty  of 
the  male  probably  aids  in  exciting  the  female  ;  and  her 
acquiescence  is  necessary.  Mr.  Hewitt  is  convinced  that 
the  union  is  by  no  means  left  to  mere  chance,  for  the  fe- 
male almost  invariably  prefers  the  most  vigorous,  defiant, 
and  mettlesome  male  ;  hence  it  is  almost  useless,  as  he  re- 
marks, "  to  attempt  true  breeding  if  a  game-cock  in  good 
health  and  condition  runs  the  locality,  for  almost  every 
hen  on  leaving  the  roosting-place  will  resort  to  the  game- 
cock, even  though  that  bird  may  not  actually  drive  away 
the  male  of  her  own  variety."  Under  ordinary  circum- 
stances the  males  and  females  of  the  fowl  seem  to  come  to 
a  mutual  understanding  by  means  of  certain  gestures, 
described  to  me  by  Mr.  Brent.  But  hens  will  often  avoid 
the  officious  attentions  of  young  males.  Old  hens,  and 
hens  of  a  pugnacious  disposition,  as  the  same  writer  in- 
forms me,  dislike  strange  males,  and  will  not  yield  xxntil 
well  beaten  into  compliance.  Ferguson,  however,  de- 
scribes how  a  quarrelsome  hen  was  subdued  by  the  gentle 
courtship  of  a  Shanghai  cock.^" 

There  is  reason  to  believe  tliat  pigeons  of  both  sexes 
prefer  pairing  with  birds  of  the  same  breed ;  and  dove- 
cot-pigeons dislike  all  the  highly  improved  breeds.^'  Mr. 
Harrison  Weir  has  lately  heard  from  a  trustworthy  ob- 
server, who  keeps  blue  pigeons,  that  these  drive  away  all 
other  colored  varieties,  such  as  white,  red,  and  yellow ; 
and  from  another  observer,  that  a  female  dun  carrier 
could  not  be  matched,  after  repeated  trials,  with  a  black 
male,  but  immediately  paired  with  a  dun.  Generally  col- 
or alone  appears  to  have  little  influence  on  the  pairing  of 
pigeons.     Mr.  Tegetmeier,  at  my  request,  stained  some 

20  '  Rare  and  Prize  Poultry,'  1854,  p.  27. 

^^  '  The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  vol.  ii. 
p.  103. 


114  SEXUAL   SELECTION  :  BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

of  his  Inrils  witli  magenta,  but  they  were  not  much  no- 
ticed by  the  others. 

Female  pigeons  occasionally  feel  a  strong  antipathy 
toward  certain  males,  without  any  assignable  cause. 
Thus  MM.  Boitard  and  Corbie,  whose  experience  ex- 
tended over  forty-five  years,  state  :  "  Quand  une  feraelle 
<iprouve  de  I'antipathie  pour  un  male  avec  lequel  on  veut 
I'accoupler,  malgre  tous  les  feux  de  I'amour,  malgre  I'al- 
piste  et  le  ch^nevis  dont  on  la  nourrit  pour  augmenter  son 
ardeur,  malgre  un  em])iisonnement  de  six  mois  et  m6me 
d'un  an,  elle  refuse  constamment  ses  caresses  ;  les  avances 
empi-essees,  les  agaceries,  les  tournoiemens,  les  tendres 
roucoulemens,  rien  ne  peut  lui  plaire  ni  I'emouvoir ;  gonflee, 
boudense,  blottie  dans  un  coin  de  sa  prison,  elle  n'en  sort 
que  pour  boire  et  manger,  ou  pour  repousser  avec  une 
esp^cc  de  rage  des  caresses  devenues  trop  pressantes."  " 
On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Harrison  Weir  has  himself  ob- 
served, and  has  heard  from  several  breeders,  that  a  female 
pigeon  will  occasionally  take  a  strong  fancy  for  a  particu- 
lar male,  and  will  desert  her  own  mate  for  him.  Some 
females,  according  to  anotlier  experienced  observer,  Rie- 
del,^'  are  of  a  profligate  disposition,  and  ])refer  almost  any 
stranger  to  their  own  mate.  Some  amorous  males,  called 
by  our  Englisli  fanciers  "  gay  birds,"  are  so  successful  in 
their  gallantries,  that,  as  Mr.  II.  "Weir  informs  me,  they 
must  be  shut  up,  on  account  of  the  mischief  which  they 
cause. 

Wild-turkeys  in  the  United  States,  according  to  Au- 
dubon, "  sometimes  pay  their  addresses  to  the  domesti- 
cated females,  and  are  generally  received  by  them  with 

22  Boitard  and  Corbie,  'Les  Pigeons,'  1824,  p.  12.  Prosper  Lucas 
('Trait6  de  I'llered.  Nat.'  tome  ii.  1850,  p.  29»))  lias  hirasell"  observed 
nearly  similar  facts  with  pigeons. 

"  'Die  Taubenzucht,'  1824,  s.  86. 


Chap.  XIV.]        PREFERENCE   BY   THE  FEMALE.  US 

great  pleasure."  So  that  these  females  apparently  prefer 
the  wild  to  their  own  males." 

Here  is  a  more  curious  case.  Sir  R.  Heron  during 
many  years  kept  an  account  of  the  habits  of  the  peafowl, 
which  he  bred  in  large  numbers.  He  states  that  "  the 
hens  have  frequently  great  preference  to  a  particular  pea- 
cock. They  were  all  so  fond  of  an  old  pied  cock,  that  one 
year,  Avhen  he  was  confined  though  still  in  view,  they 
were  constantly  assembled  close  to  the  trellis-walls  of  his 
prison,  and  would  not  suffer  a  japanned  peacock  to  touch 
them.  On  his  being  let  out  in  the  autumn,  the  oldest  of 
the  hens  instantly  courted  him,  and  was  successful  in  her 
courtship.  The  next  year  he  was  shut  up  in  a  stable,  and 
then  the  hens  all  courted  his  rival."  "  This  rival  was  a 
japanned  or  black-winged  peacock,  which  to  our  eyes  is  a 
more  beautiful  bird  than  the  common  kind. 

Lichtenstein,  who  was  a  good  observer  and  had  excel- 
lent opportunities  of  observation  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  assured  Rudolphi  that  the  female  widow-bird 
{Ghera  progne)  disowns  the  male,  when  robbed  of  the 
long  tail-feathers  with  which  he  is  ornamented  during  the 
breeding-season.  I  presume  that  this  observation  must 
have  been  made  on  birds  under  confinement."'  Here  is 
another  striking  case  ;  Dr.  Jaeger,"  director  of  the  Zoo- 
logical Gardens  of  Vienna,  states  that  a  male  silver-pheas- 
ant, who  had  been  triumphant  over  the  other  males  and 
was  the  accepted  lover  of  the  females,  had  his  ornamental 
plumage  spoiled.     He  was  then  immediately  superseded 

2*  '  Ornithological  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  1 3. 

2*  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1835,  p.  54.  The  japanned  peacock  is  consid- 
ered by  Mr.  Sclater  as  a  distinct  species,  and  has  been  named  Pavo  ni' 
gripennis. 

^^  Rudolphi,  '  Beytrage  znr  Anthropologie,'  1812,  s.  184. 

*'  '  Die  Darwin'sche  Theorie,  und  ihre  Stellung  zu  Moral  und  Religion,' 
1869,  s.  59. 


IIG  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

by  a  rival,  who  got  the  upper  hand  and  afterward  led  the 
flock. 

Not  only  docs  the  female  exert  a  choice,  but  in  some 
few  cases  she  courts  the  male,  or  even  fights  for  his  pos- 
session. Sir  R.  Heron  states  that,  with  peafowl,  the  first 
advances  are  always  made  by  the  female ;  something  of 
the  same  kind  takes  place,  according  to  Audubon,  with 
the  older  females  of  the  wild-turkey.  With  the  caper- 
cailzie, the  females  flit  round  the  male,  while  he  is  parad- 
ing at  one  of  the  places  of  assemblage,  and  solicit  his 
attention."*  We  have  seen  that  a  tame  wild-duck  seduced 
after  a  long  courtship  an  unwilling  Pintail  drake.  Mr. 
Bartlett  believes  that  the  Lophophorus,  like  many  other 
gallinaceous  birds,  is  naturally  polygamous,  but  two 
females  cannot  be  placed  in  the  same  cage  with  a  male,  as 
they  fight  so  much  together.  The  following  instance  ot 
rivalry  is  more  surprising  as  it  relates  to  bullfinches,  which 
usually  pair  for  life.  Mr.  Jenner  Weir  introduced  a  dull- 
colored  and  ugly  female  into  his  aviary,  and  she  immedi- 
ately attacked  another  mated  female  so  unmercifully  that 
the  latter  had  to  be  separated.  The  new  female  did  all 
the  courtship,  and  was  at  last  successful,  for  she  paired 
with  the  male;  but  after  a  time  she  met  with  a  just  re- 
tribution, for,  ceasing  to  be  pugnacious,  Mr.  Weir  replaced 
the  old  female,  and  the  male  then  deserted  his  new  and 
returned  to  his  old  love. 

In  all  ordinary  cases  the  male  is  so  eager  that  he  will 
accept  any  female,  and  does  not,  as  far  as  we  can  judge, 
prefer  one  to  the  other ;  but  exceptions  to  this  rule,  as  we 
siiall  hereafter  see,  apparently  occur  in  some  few  groups. 
W^ith  domesticated  birds,  I  have  heard  of  only  one  case  in 

'8  In  regard  to  peafowl,  see  Sir  R.  Heron,  'Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc'  1835, 
p.  54,  and  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Dixon,  '  Ornamentdl  Poultry,'  1848,  p.  8.  For 
tlie  turkey,  Audubon,  ibid.  p.  4.  For  the  capercailzie,  Lloyd,  'Game- 
Birds  of  Sweden,'  1867,  p.  23. 


Chap.  XIV.]         PREFERENCE   BY   THE  FEMALE.  H^ 

which  the  males  show  any  preference  for  particular  fe- 
males, namely,  that  of  the  domestic  cock,  who,  according 
to  the  high  authoi'ity  of  Mi'.  Hewitt,  prefers  the  younger 
to  the  older  hens.  On  the  other  hand,  in  effecting  hybrid 
unions  between  the  male  pheasant  and  common  hens,  Mr. 
Hewitt  is  convinced  that  the  pheasant  invariably  prefers 
the  older  birds.  He  does  not  appear  to  be  in  the  least 
influenced  by  their  color,  but  is  most  "  capricious  in  his 
attachments."  ^'  From  some  inexplicable  cause  he  shows 
the  most  determined  aversion  to  certain  hens,  which  no 
care  on  the  part  of  the  breeder  can  overcome.  Some  hens, 
as  Mr.  Hewitt  informs  me,  are  quite  unattractive  even  to 
the  males  of  their  own  species,  so  that  they  may  be  kept 
with  several  cocks  during  a  wliole  season,  and  not  one  egg 
out  of  forty  or  fifty  will  prove  fertile.  On  the  other  hand, 
with  the  Long-tailed  duck  (ITarelda  glacialls),  "it  has 
been  remarked,"  says  M.  Ekstrom,  "  that  certain  females 
are  much  more  courted  than  the  rest.  Frequently,  indeed, 
one  sees  an  individual  surrounded  by  six  or  eight  amorous 
males."  Whether  this  statement  is  credible,  I  know  not ; 
but  the  native  sportsmen  shoot  these  females  in  order  to 
stuff  them  as  decoys.^" 

With  respect  to  female  birds  feeling  a  preference  for 
particular  males,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  we  can  judge 
of  choice  being  exerted,  only  by  placing  ourselves  in 
imagination  in  the  same  position.  If  an  inhabitant  of 
another  planet  were  to  behold  a  number  of  young  rustics 
at  a  fail',  coui-ting  and  quarrelling  over  a  pretty  girl,  like 
birds  at  one  of  their  places  of  assemblage,  he  woidd  be 
able  to  infer  that  she  had  the  power  of  choice  only  by  ob- 
serving the  eagerness  of  the  wooers  to  please  her,  and  to 
display  their  fineiy.  Now  with  birds,  the  evidence  stands 
thus ;  they  have  acute  powers  of  observation,  and  they 

''  Mr.  Hewitt,  quoted  in  '  Tegetmeier's  Poultry-Book,'  1866,  p.  165. 
^  Quoted  in  Lloyd's  '  Game-Birds  of  Sweden,'  p.  345. 


118  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

seem  to  have  some  taste  for  the  beautiful  both  in  color 
and  sound.  It  is  certain  that  the  females  occasionally  ex- 
hibit, from  unknown  causes,  the  strongest  antipathies  and 
preferences  for  particular  males.  When  the  sexes  differ 
in  color  or  in  other  ornaments,  the  males  with  rare  excep- 
tions are  the  most  highly  decorated,  either  permanently 
or  temporarily  during  the  breeding-season.  They  sedu- 
lously display  their  various  ornaments,  exert  their  voices, 
and  perform  strange  antics  in  the  presence  of  the  females. 
Even  well-armed  males,  who,  it  might  have  been  thought, 
would  have  altogether  depended  for  success  on  the  law  of 
battle,  are  in  most  cases  highly  ornamented ;  and  their 
ornaments  have  been  acquired  at  the  expense  of  some  loss 
of  power.  In  other  cases  ornaments  have  been  acquired, 
at  the  cost  of  increased  risk  from  birds  and  beasts  of  prey. 
With  various  species  many  individuals  of  both  sexes  con- 
gregate at  the  same  spot,  and  their  courtship  is  a  pro- 
longed afiair.  There  is  even  reason  to  suspect  that  the 
males  and  females  within  the  same  district  do  not  always 
succeed  in  pleasing  each  other  and  pairing. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  conclude  from  these  facts  and 
considerations  ?  Does  the  male  parade  his  charms  with 
so  much  pomp  and  rivalry  for  no  purpose  ?  Are  we  not 
justified  in  believing  that  the  female  exerts  a  choice,  and 
that  she  receives  the  addresses  of  the  male  who  pleases 
her  most  ?  It  is  not  probable  that  she  consciously  delib- 
erates; but  she  is  most  excited  or  attracted  by  the  most 
beautiful,  or  melodious,  or  gallant  males.  Nor  need  it  be 
supposed  that  the  female  studies  each  stripe  or  spot  of 
color;  that  the  peahen,  for  instance,  admires  each  detail 
in  the  gorgeous  train  of  the  peacock — she  is  proliably 
struck  only  by  the  general  effect.  Nevertheless,  after  hear- 
ing how  carefully  the  male  Argus  pheasant  displays  his 
elegant  primary  wing-feathers,  and  erects  his  ocellated 
plumes  in  the  right  position  for  their  full  effect;  or  again. 


Chap.  XIV.]  VARIABILITY.  119 

how  the  male  goldfinch  alternately  displays  his  gold-be- 
spangled wings,  we  ought  not  to  feel  too  sure  that  the 
female  does  not  attend  to  each  detail  of  beauty.  We  can 
judge,  as  already  remarked,  of  choice  being  exerted,  only 
from  the  analogy  of  our  own  minds ;  and  the  mental 
powers  of  birds,  if  reason  be  excluded,  do  not  fundamen- 
tally differ  from  ours.  From  these  various  considerations 
we  may  conclude  that  the  pairing  of  birds  is  not  left  to 
chance  ;  but  that  those  males,  which  are  best  able  by  their 
various  charms  to  please  or  excite  the  female,  are  under 
ordinary  circumstances  accepted.  If  this  be  admitted, 
there  is  not  much  difficulty  in  understanding,  how  male 
birds  have  gradually  acquired  their  ornamental  characters. 
All  animals  present  individual  differences,  and  as  man  can 
modify  his  domesticated  birds  by  selecting  the  individuals 
which  appear  to  him  the  most  beautiful,  so  the  habitual  or 
even  occasional  preference  by  the  female  of  the  more  at- 
tractive males  would  almost  certainly  lead  to  their  modi- 
fication ;  and  such  modifications  might  in  the  course  of 
time  be  augmented  to  almost  any  extent,  compatible  with 
the  existence  of  the  species. 

VarlahlUty  of  Birds,  and  especially  of  their  Secondary 
Sexual  Characters. — Variability  and  inheritance  are  the 
foundations  for  the  work  of  selection.  That  domesticated 
birds  have  varied  greatly,  ther  variations  being  inherited, 
is  certain.  That  birds  in  a  state  of  nature  present  indi- 
vidual differences  is  admitted  by  every  one ;  and  that 
they  have  sometimes  been  modified  into  distinct  races,  is 
generally  admitted."     Variations  are  of  two  kinds,  which 

51  According  to  Dr.  Blasius  ('Ibis,'  vol.  ii.  1860,  p.  29'7),  there  are 
425  indubitable  species  of  birds  which  breed  in  Europe,  besides  60 
forms,  which  are  frequently  regarded  as  distinct  species.  Of  the  latter, 
Blasius  thinks  that  only  10  are  really  doubtful,  and  that  the  other  50 
ought  to  be  united  with  their  nearest  allies ;  but  this  shows  that  there 
must  be  a  considerable  amount  of  variation  with  some  of  our  European 


120  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

insensibly  graduate  into  each  other,  namely,  slight  difter- 
ences  between  all  the  members  of  the  same  species,  and 
more  strongly-marked  deviations  which  occur  only  occa- 
sionally. These  latter  are  rare  witli  birds  in  a  state  of 
nature,  and  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  they  have  often 
been  preserved  through  selection,  and  then  transmitted  to 
succeeding  generations."  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  give  the  few  cases  relating  chiefly  to  color  (sim- 
ple albinism  and  melanism  being  excluded),  which  I  have 
been  able  to  collect. 

Mr.  Gould  is  well  known  rarely  to  admit  the  existence 
of  varieties,  for  he  esteems  very  slight  ditt'erences  as  spe- 
cific ;  now  he  states  "  that  near  Bogota  certain  humming- 
birds belonging  to  the  genus  Cynanthus  are  divided  into 
two  or  three  races  or  varieties,  which  difier  from  each 
other  in  the  coloring  of  the  tail — "  some  having  the  whole 
of  the  feathers  blue,  while  others  have  the  eight  central 
ones  tipped  with  beautiful  green."  It  does  not  appear 
that  intermediate  gradations  have  been  observed  in  this 

birds.  It  is  also  an  unsettled  point  with  naturalists,  whether  several 
Korth  American  birds  ought  to  be  ranked  as  specifically  distinct  from 
the  corresponding  European  species. 

»2  'Origin  of  Species,'  fifth  edit.  18G9,  p.  104.  I  had  always  per- 
ceived that  rare  and  strongly-marked  deviations  of  structure,  deserving 
to  be  called  monstrosities,  could  seldom  be  preserved  through  natural 
selection,  and  that  the  preservation  of  even  highly-beneficial  variations 
would  depend  to  a  certain  extent  on  chance.  I  had  also  fully  appre- 
ciated the  importance  of  mere  individual  differences,  and  this  led  me  to 
insist  so  strongly  on  the  importance  of  that  unconscious  form  of  selection 
by  man,  which  follows  from  the  preservation  of  the  most  valued  individ- 
uals of  each  breed,  without  any  intention  on  his  part  to  modify  the  char- 
acters of  the  breed.  But  until  I  read  an  able  article  in  the  'North  Brit- 
ish Review'  (March,  18G7,  p.  289,  et  seq.\  which  has  been  of  more  use  to 
me  than  any  other  Review,  I  did  not  see  how  great  the  chances  were 
against  the  preservation  of  variations,  whether  slight  or  strongly  pro- 
nounced, occurring  only  in  single  individuals. 

33  '  Introduct.  to  the  Trochilidae,'  p.  102. 


Chap.  XIV.]  VARIABILITY.  121 

or  the  following  cases.  In  the  males  alone  of  one  of  the 
Australian  parrakeets  "  the  thighs  in  some  are  scarlet,  in 
others  grass-green."  In  another  parrakeet  of  the  same 
country  ''  some  individuals  have  the  band  across  the  wing- 
coverts  bright-yellow,  while  in  others  the  same  part  is 
tinged  with  red."  °*  In  the  United  States  some  few  of  the 
males  of  the  Scarlet  Tanager  ( Tanagra  rubra)  have  "  a 
beautiful  transverse  band  of  glowing  red  on  the  smaller 
wing-coverts ; "  "  but  this  variation  seems  to  be  somewhat 
rare,  so  that  its  preservation  through  sexual  selection 
would  follow  only  under  unusually  favorable  circum- 
stances. In  Bengal  the  Honey  buzzard  {Pernis  cristata) 
has  either  a  small  rudimental  crest  on  its  head,  or  none  at 
all ;  so  slight  a  difference,  however,  would  not  have  been 
worth  notice,  had  not  this  same  species  possessed  in 
Southern  India  "  a  well-marked  occipital  crest  formed  of 
several  graduated  feathers."  ^* 

The  following  case  is  in  some  respects  more  interest- 
ing :  A  pied  variety  of  the  raven,  with  the  head,  breast, 
abdomen,  and  parts  of  the  wings  and  tail-feathers  white, 
is  confined  to  the  Feroe  Islands.  It  is  not  very  rare  there, 
for  Graba  saw  during  his  visit  from  eight  to  ten  living 
specimens.  Although  the  characters  of  this  variety  are 
not  quite  constant,  yet  it  has  been  named  by  several  dis- 
tinguished ornithologists  as  a  distinct  species.  The  fact 
of  the  pied  birds  being  pursued  and  persecuted  with 
much  clamor  by  the  other  ravens  of  the  island  was  the 
chief  cause  which  led  Brtinnich  to  conclude  that  it  was 
specifically  distinct ;  but  this  is  now  known  to  be  an 
error.  ^' 

34  Gould,  '  Hand-book  of  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  32,  68. 

3^  Audubon,  'Ornitholog.  BiograpLy,'  1838,  vol.  iv.  p.  389. 

3^  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  p.  108;  and  Mr.  Blyth,  in  'Land 
and  Water,'  1868,  p.  381. 

3'  Graba,  'Tagebuch,  Reise  nach  Faro,'  1830,  s.  51-54.  Macgillivray 
'Hist.  British  Birds,'  vol.  iii.  p.  745.     'Ibis,'  vol.  v.  1863,  p.  469. 

35 


122  SEXUAL   SELECTION  :    I5IRDS  [Part  IL 

In  various  parts  of  the  northern  seas  a  remarkable 
variety  of  the  common  Guillemot  {Uria  troile)  is  found  ; 
and  "in  Feroe,  one  out  of  every  five  birds,  according  to 
Graba's  estimation,  consists  of  this  variety.  It  is  charac- 
terized "  by  a  pure  white  ring  round  the  eye,  with  a  curved 
narrow  white  line,  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length,  extending 
back  from  the  ring.  This  conspicuous  character  has  caused 
the  bird  to  be  ranked  by  several  ornithologists  as  a  dis- 
tinct species  under  the  name  of  U.  lacrt/mans,  but  it  is 
now  known  to  be  merely  a  variety.  It  often  pairs  with 
the  common  kind,  yet  intermediate  gradations  have  never 
been  seen ;  nor  is  this  surprising,  for  variations  which  ap- 
pear suddenly  are  often,  as  I  have  elsewhere  shoAvn," 
transmitted  either  unaltered  or  not  at  all.  We  thus  see 
that  two  distinct  forms  of  the  same  species  may  coexist  in 
the  same  district,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  if  the  one  had 
possessed  any  great  advantage  over  the  other,  it  would 
soon  have  been  multiplied  to  the  exclusion  of  the  latter. 
If,  for  instance,  the  male  pied  ravens,  instead  of  being 
persecuted  and  driven  away  by  their  comrades,  had  been 
highly  attractive,  like  the  pied  peacock  before  mentioned, 
to  the  common  black  females,  their  numbers  would  have 
rapidly  increased.  And  this  would  have  been  a  case  of 
sexual  selection. 

With  respect  to  the  slight  individixal  dittl-rences  which 
are  common,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  all  the  members 
of  the  same  species,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
they  are  by  far  the  most  impcn-tant  for  the  work  of  selec- 
tion. Secondary  sexual  characters  are  eminently  liable 
to  vary,  both  with  animals  in  a  state  of  nature  and  under 
domestication.'"'     There  is  also  reason  to  believe,  as  we 

^*  Graba,  ibid.  s.  54.     Macgillivray,  ibid.  vol.  v.  p.  327. 

^^  'Variation  of  Animals  and  I'lant.-^  under  Domestication,'  vol.  ii. 
p.  02. 

*°  On  these  points  sec  also  '  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under 
Domestication,'  vol.  i.  p.  253 ;  vol.  ii.  pp.  73,  75. 


Chap.  XIV.]  VARIABILITY.  123 

have  seen  in  our  eighth  chapter,  that  variations  are  more 
apt  to  occur  in  the  male  than  in  the  female  sex.  All  these 
contingencies  are  highly  favorable  for  sexual  selection. 
Whether  characters  thus  acquired  are  transmitted  to  one 
sex  or  to  both  sexes,  depends  exclusively  in  most  cases,  as 
I  hope  to  show  in  the  following  chapter,  on  the  form  of 
inheritance  which  prevails  in  the  groups  in  question. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  form  any  opinion  whether 
certain  slight  differences  between  the  sexes  of  birds  are 
simply  the  result  of  variability  with  sexually-limited  in- 
heritance, without  tlie  aid  of  sexual  selection,  or  whether 
they  have  been  augmented  through  this  latter  process.  I 
do  not  here  refer  to  the  innumerable  instances  in  which 
the  male  displays  splendid  colors  or  other  ornaments,  of 
which  the  female  partakes  only  to  a  slight  degree  ;  for 
these  cases  are  almost  certainly  due  to  characters  primarily 
acquired  by  the  male,  having  been  transferred,  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  to  the  female.  But  what  are  we  to  con- 
clude with  respect  to  certain  birds  in  which,  for  instance, 
the  eyes  differ  slightly  in  color  in  the  two  sexes  ? "  In 
some  cases  the  eyes  differ  conspicuously ;  thus  Avith  the 
storks  of  the  genus  Xenorhytichus  those  of  the  male  are 
blackish-hazel,  while  those  of  the  females  are  gamboge- 
yellow  ;  with  many  hornbills  (Buceros),  as  I  hear  from 
Mr.  Blyth,"  the  males  have  intense  crimson,  and  the  fe- 
males white  eyes.  In  the  Suceros  bieomis,  the  hind  mar- 
gin of  the  casque  and  a  stripe  on  the  crest  of  the  beak  are 
black  in  the  male,  but  not  so  in  the  female.  Are  we  to 
suppose  that  these  black  marks  and  the  crimson  color  of 
the  eyes  have  been  preserved  or  augmented  through  sex- 
ual selection  in  the  males  ?  Tliis  is  very  doubtful ;  for 
Mr.  Bartlett  showed  me  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  that 

*^  See,  for  instance,  on  the  ii-ides  of  a  Podica  and  Gallicres.  in  '  Ibis,' 
vol.  ii.  1860,  p.  206  ;  and  vol.  v.  1863,  p.  426. 

42  See  also  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  pp.  243-245. 


124  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

the  inside  of  the  mouth  of  this  Buceros  is  black  in  the 
male  and  flesh-colored  in  the  female ;  and  their  external 
appearance  of  beauty  would  not  be  thus  affected.  I  ob- 
served in  Chili"  that  the  iris  in  the  condor,  vhen  about  a 
year  old,  is  dark-brown,  but  changes  at  maturity  into  yel- 
lowish-brown in  the  male,  and  into  bright  red  in  the  female. 
The  male  has  also  a  small,  longitudinal,  leaden-colored, 
fleshy  crest  or  comb.  With  many  gallinaceous  birds  the 
comb  is  highly  ornamental,  and  assumes  vivid  colors  dur- 
ing the  act  of  courtship ;  but  what  are  we  to  think  of  the 
dull-colored  comb  of  the  condor,  which  does  not  appear  to 
us  in  the  least  ornamental  ?  The  same  question  may  be 
asked  in  regard  to  various  other  characters,  such  as  the 
knob  on  the  base  of  the  beak  of  the  Chinese  goose  {Anser 
cygnoides),  which  is  much  larger  in  the  male  than  in  the  fe- 
male. No  certain  answer  can  be  given  to  these  questions  ; 
but  we  ought  to  be  cautious  in  assuming  that  knobs  and 
various  fleshy  appendages  cannot  be  attractive  to  the  fe- 
male, when  we  remember  that  with  savage  races  of  man 
various  hideous  deformities — deejD  scars  on  the  face  with 
the  flesh  raised  into  jirotuberances,  the  septum  of  the  nose 
pierced  by  sticks  or  bones,  holes  in  the  ears  and  lips 
stretched  widely  0})en — are  all  admired  as  ornamental. 

Whether  or  not  unimportant  difterences  between  the 
sexes,  such  as  those  just  specified,  have  been  preserved 
through  sexual  selection,  these  differences,  as  well  as  all 
others,  must  primarily  depend  on  the  laws  of  variation. 
On  the  principle  of  correlated  development,  the  j)lumage 
often  varies  on  diflerent  parts  of  the  body,  or  over  the 
whole  body,  in  the  same  manner.  We  see  this  well  illus- 
trated in  certain  breeds  of  the  fowl.  In  all  the  breeds  the 
feathers  on  the  neck  and  loins  of  the  males  are  elongated, 
and  are  called  hackles ;  now  when  both  sexes  acquire  a 
top-knot,  which  is  a  new  character  in  the  genus,  the  feath- 

«  'Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle,'  1841,  p.  C. 


Chap.  XIV.]  VARIABILITY.  125 

ers  on  the  head  of  the  male  become  hackle-shapied,  evi- 
dently on  the  principle  of  correlation;  while  those  on 
the  head  of  the  female  are  of  the  ordinary  shape.  The 
color  also  of  the  hackles  forming  the  top-knot  of  the  male, 
is  often  correlated  with  that  of  the  hackles  on  the  neck 
and  loins,  as  may  be  seen  by  comparing  these  feathers  in 
the  Golden  and  Silver-spangled  Polish,  the  Iloudans,  and 
Creve-coeur  breeds.  In  some  natural  species  we  may  ob- 
serve exactly  the  same  correlation  in  the  colors  of  these 
same  feathers,  as  in  the  males  of  the  splendid  Golden  and 
Amherst  pheasants. 

The  structure  of  each  individual  feather  generally 
causes  any  change  in  its  coloring  to  be  symmetrical ;  we 
see  this  in  the  various  laced,  spangled,  and  pencilled  breeds 
of  the  fowl ;  and  on  the  principle  of  correlation  the  feathers 
over  the  whole  body  are  often  modified  in  the  same  man- 
ner. We  are  thus  enabled  without  much  trouble  to  rear 
breeds  with  their  plumage  marked  and  colored  almost  as 
symmetrically  as  in  natural  species.  In  laced  and  spangled 
fowls  the  colored  margins  of  the  feathers  are  abruptly  de- 
fined ;  but  in  a  mongrel  raised  by  me  from  a  black  Spanish 
cock  glossed  with  green  and  a  white  game  hen,  all  the 
feathers  were  greenish-black,  excepting  toward  their  ex- 
tremities, which  were  yellowish- white ;  but  between  the 
white  extremities  and  the  black  bases,  there  was  on  each 
feather  a  symmetrical,  curved  zone  of  dark-brown.  In 
some  instances  the  shaft  of  the  feather  determines  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  tints ;  thus  with  the  body-feathers  of  a 
mongrel  from  the  same  black  Spanish  cock  and  a  silver- 
spangled  Polish  hen,  the  shaft,  together  with  a  narrow 
space  on  each  side,  was  greenish-black,  and  this  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  regular  zone  of  dark-brown,  edged  with 
brownish-white.  In  these  cases  we  see  feathers  becoming 
symmetrically  shaded,  like  those  which  give  so  much  ele- 
gance to  tlie  plumage  of  many  natural  species.     I  have 


126  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

ulso  noticed  a  variuty  of  the  common  pigeon  with  the 
wing-Lars  symmetrically  zoned  with  three  bright  shades, 
instead  of  being  simply  black  on  a  slaty-blue  ground,  as  in 
the  parent-species. 

In  many  large  groups  of  birds  it  may  be  observed 
that  the  ])lumage  is  difterently  colored  in  each  species, 
yet  that  certain  spots,  marks,  or  stripes,  though  likewise 
difterently  colored,  are  retained  by  all  the  species.  Anal- 
ogous cases  occur  with  the  breeds  of  the  pigeon,  which 
usually  retain  the  two  wing-bars,  though  they  may  be 
colored  red,  yellow,  white,  black,  or  blue,  the  rest  of  the 
plumage  being  of  some  wholly  different  tint.  Here  is  a 
more  curious  case,  in  which  certain  marks  are  retained, 
though  colored  in  almost  an  exactly  reversed  manner  to 
what  is  natural;  the  aboriginal  pigeon  has  a  blue  tail, 
with  the  terminal  halves  of  the  outer  webs  of  the  two 
outer  tail-feathers  white ;  now  there  is  a  sub-variety  hav- 
ing a  white  instead  of  a  blue  tail,  with  precisely  that 
small  part  black  which  is  white  in  the  parent-species." 

Formation  and  VariahilUy  of  the  Ocelli  or  Eye-like 
Spots  on  the  Plumage  of  Hii'ds. — As  no  ornaments  are 
more  beautiful  than  the  ocelli  on  the  feathers  of  various 
birds,  on  the  hairy  coats  of  some  mammals,  on  the  scales 
of  reptiles  and  fishes,  on  the  skin  of  amphibians,  on  the 
wings  of  many  Le])idoptera  and  other  insects,  they  de- 
serve to  l)e  especially  noticed.  An  ocellus  consists  of  a 
spot  within  a  ring  of  another  color,  like  the  puj)il  within 
the  iris,  but  the  central  spot  is  often  surrounded  by  addi- 
tional concentric  zones.  The  ocelli  on  the  tail-coverts  of 
the  peacock  ofter  a  familiar  example,  as  well  as  those  on 
the  wings  of  the  peacock-butterfly  (Vanessa).  Mr.  Tri- 
men  has  given  me  a  description  of  a  South  African  moth 

**  Bcclistoin,  '  Naturgcschichte  Deutschlands,'  B.  iv.  1705,  s.  31,  ou  a 
Bub-varicty  of  the  Monck  pigeon. 


Chap.  XIV.]  OCELLI.  127 

{Gynaiiisa  Isis),  allied  to  our  Empei'or  moth,  in  which  a 
magnificent  ocellus  occupies  nearly  the  whole  surface  of 
each  hinder  wing  ;  it  consists  of  a  black  centre,  including 
a  semitransparent  crescent-shaped  mark,  surrounded  by 
successive  ochre-yellow,  black,  ochre-yellow,  pink,  white, 
pink,  brown,  and  whitish  zones.  Although  we  do  not 
know  the  steps  by  which  these  wonderfully-beautiful  and 
complex  ornaments  have  been  developed,  the  process  at 
least  with  insects  has  probably  been  a  simple  one ;  for,  as 
Mr.  Trimen  writes  to  me,  "  no  characters  of  mere  marking 
or  coloration  are  so  unstable  in  the  Lepidoptera  as  the 
ocelli,  both  in  number  and  size."  Mr.  Wallace,  who  first 
called  my  attention  to  this  subject,  showed  me  a  series  of 
specimens  of  our  common  meadow-brown  butterfly  {Hip- 
parchia  Janira)  exhibiting  numerous  gradations  from  a 
simple  minute  black  spot  to  an  elegantly-shaded  ocellus. 
In  a  South  African  butterfly  ( Cyllo  Leda^  Linn.)  belong- 
ing to  the  same  family,  the  ocelli  are  even  still  more  vari- 
able. In  some  specimens  (A,  Fig.  52)  large  spaces  on 
the  upper  surface  of  the  wings  are  colored  black,  and  in- 
clude irregular  white  marks ;  and  from  this  state  a  com- 
plete gradation  can  be  traced  into  a  tolerably  perfect  (A') 
ocellus,  and  this  results  from  the  contraction  of  the  irreg- 
ular blotches  of  color.  In  another  series  of  specimens  a 
gradation  can  be  followed  from  excessively  minute  white 
dots,  surrounded  by  a  scarcely  visible  black  line  (B),  into 
perfectly  symmetrical  andlai-ge  ocelli  (B')."  In  cases  like 
these,  the  development  of  a  perfect  ocellus  does  not  re- 
quire a  long  course  of  variation  and  selection. 

•*'  This  woodcut  has  been  engraved  from  a  beautiful  drawing,  most 
kindly  made  for  me  by  Mr.  Trimen ;  see  also  his  description  of  the  won- 
derful amount  of  variation  in  the  coloration  and  shape  of  the  wings  of 
this  butterfly,  in  his  'Rhopalocera  Africae  Australis,'  p.  186.  See  also 
an  interesting  paper  by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Higgins,  on  the  origin  of  the 
ocelli  in  the  Lepidoptera  in  the  '  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,'  July. 
1868,  p.  326. 


128 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:  BIRDS. 


[I'art  II. 


With  birtls  ami  many  other  animals  it  seems,  from  the 
comparison  of  allied  species,  to  follow,  that  circular  spots 
are  often  generated  by  the  breaking  up  and  contraction 
of  stripes.  In  the  Tragopan  pheasant  faint  white  lines  in 
the  female  represent  the  beautiful  white  spots  in  the 
male  • "  and  something  of  the  same  kind  may  be  observed 

A  A' 


Fig.  52. — Cyllo  leda,  Liun.,  from  a  flrawinij  liy  Mr.  Trimen,  ehowing  the  extreme 
range  of  variation  in  tlie  ocelli. 
A.  Specimen,  from  Mauritins,  upper    B.  Specimen,  from  Java,  npper  surface 

piirface  of  fore-wing.  of  hind-wing. 

A'.  Specimen,  from  Natal,  ditto.  B'.  Specimen,  from  Mauritius,  ditto. 

in  the  two  sexes  of  the  Argus  pheasant.  However  this 
may  be,  ajipearances  strongly  favor  the  belief  that,  on  the 
one  liand,  a  dark  spot  is  often  formed  by  the  coloring 
matter  being  drawn  toward  a  central  point  from  a  sur- 
rounding zone,  Avhich  is  thus  rendered  lighter.  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  a  white  spot  is  often  formed  by  the 
color  being  driven  away  from  a  central  point,  so  that  it 
accumulates  in  a  surrounding  darker  zone.  In  either  case 
an  ocellus  is  the  result.  The  coloring  matter  seems  to  be 
a  nearly  constant   quantity,  but   is    redistributed,  cither 

*'  Jcrdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  517. 


Chap.  XIV.]        GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERS.  129 

centripetally  or  centrifugally.  The  feathers  of  the  com- 
mon guinea-fowl  offer  a  good  instance  of  white  spots  sur- 
rounded by  darker  zones ;  and  whenever  the  white  spots 
ai'e  large  and  stand  near  each  other,  the  surrounding  dark 
zones  become  confluent.  In  the  same  wing-feather  of  the 
Argus  pheasant  dark  spots  may  be  seen  surrounded  by  a 
pale  zone,  and  white  spots  by  a  dark  zone.  Thus  the  for- 
mation of  an  ocellus  in  its  simplest  state  appears  to  be  a 
simple  affair.  By  what  further  steps  the  more  complex 
ocelli,  which  are  surrounded  by  many  successive  zones  of 
color,  have  been  generated,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say. 
But  bearing  in  mind  the  zoned  feathers  of  the  mongrel 
offspring  from  differently-colored  fowls,  and  the  extraor- 
dinary variability  of  the  ocelli  in  many  Lepidoptera,  the 
formation  of  these  beautiful  ornaments  can  hardly  be  a 
highly-complex  process,  and  probably  depends  on  some 
slight  and  graduated  change  in  the  nature  of  the  tissues. 

Gradation  of  Secondary  Sexual  Characters. — Cases 
of  gradation  are  important  for  us,  as  they  show  that  it  is 
at  least  possible  that  highly-complex  ornaments  may  have 
been  acquired  by  small  successive  steps.  In  order  to  dis- 
cover the  actual  steps  by  which  the  male  of  any  existing 
bird  has  acquired  his  magnificent  colors  or  other  orna- 
ments, we  ought  to  behold  the  long  line  of  his  ancient  and 
extinct  progenitors ;  but  this  is  obviously  impossible. 
"We  may,  however,  generally  gain  a  clew  by  comparing  all 
the  species  of  a  group,  if  it  be  a  large  one ;  for  some  of 
them  will  probably  retain,  at  least  in  a  partial  manner, 
traces  of  their  former  characters.  Instead  of  entering  on 
tedious  details  respecting  various  groups,  in  which  strik- 
ing instances  of  gradation  could  be  given,  it  seems  the 
best  plan  to  take  some  one  or  two  strongly-characterized 
cases,  for  instance  that  of  the  peacock,  in  order  to  dis- 
cover if  any  light  can  thus  be  thrown  on  the  steps  by 


130  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [P^vrt  IL 

which  this  bird  lias  become  so  splendidly  decorated.  The 
peacock  is  chiefly  remarkable  from  the  extraordinary 
length  of  his  tail-coverts;  the  tail  itself  not  being  much 
elongated.  The  barbs  along  nearly  the  whole  length  of 
these  featliers  stand  separate  or  are  decomposed ;  but  this 
is  the  case  Avith  the  feathers  of  many  species,  and  with 
some  varieties  of  the  domestic  fowl  and  pigeon.  The 
barbs  coalesce  toward  the  extremity  of  the  shaft  to  form 
the  oval  disk  or  ocellus,  which  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  objects  in  the  world.  This  consists  of  an  irides- 
cent, intensely  blue,  indented  centre,  surrounded  by  a 
rich  green  zone,  and  this  by  a  broad  coppery-brown  zone, 
and  this  by  five  other  narrow  zones  of  slightly-different 
iridescent  shades.  A  trifling  character  in  the  disk  per- 
haps deserves  notice ;  the  barbs,  for  a  space  along  one  of 
the  concentric  zones  are  destitute,  to  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree, of  their  bai-bules,  so  that  a  part*  of  the  disk  is  sur- 
rounded by  an  almost  transparent  zone,  which  gives  to  it 
a  highly  -  finished  aspect.  But  I  have  elsewhere  de- 
scribed "  an  exactly  analogous  variation  in  the  hackles  of 
a  sub-variety  of  the  game-cock,  in  which  the  ti])s,  having 
a  metallic  lustre,  "  are  separated  from  the  lower  part  of 
the  feather  by  a  symmetrically-shaped  transparent  zone, 
composed  of  the  naked  portions  of  the  barbs."  The  lower 
margin  or  base  of  the  dark-blue  centre  of  the  ocellus  is 
deeply  indented  on  the  line  of  the  shaft.  The  surround- 
ing zones  likewise  show  traces,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
drawing  (Fig.  53),  of  indentations,  or  rather  breaks. 
These  indentations  are  common  to  the  Indian  and  Javan 
peacocks  (Pavo  cristatics  and  J*,  miiticus) ;  and  they 
seemed  to  me  to  deserve  particular  attention,  as  jtroliably 
connected  with  the  development  of  the  ocellus;  but  for  a 
long  time  I  could  not  conjecture  their  meaning. 

If  we  admit  the  principle  of  gradual  evolution,  there 

*' '  \^ariationof  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  vol.  i.  p.  254. 


Chap.  XIV.] 


GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERiS. 


131 


must  formerly  have  existed  many  sjDecies  which  presented 
every  successive  step  between  the  wonderfully  elongated 
tail-coverts  of  the  peacock  and  the  short  tail-coverts  of  all 
ordinary  birds  ;  and  again  between  the  magnificent  ocelli 
of  the  former,  and  the  simpler  ocelli  or  mere  colored  spots 


Fig.  53.— Feather  of  Peacock,  about  two-thirds  of  natural  size,  carefully  drawn 
by  Mr.  Ford.  The  transparent  zone  is  represented  by  the  outermost  white 
zone  confined  to  the  upper  end  of  the  disk. 

of  other  birds  ;  and  so  with  all  the  other  characters  of  the 
peacock.  Let  us  look  to  the  allied  Gallinacea?  for  any 
still-existing  gradations.  The  species  and  sub-species  of 
Polyplectron  inhabit  countries  adjacent  to  the  native  land 
of  the  peacock ;  and  they  so  far  resemble  this  bird  that 


132  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

they  arc  soinetinics  called  peacock-pheasants.  I  am  also 
informed  by  Mr.  Bartlett  that  they  resemble  the  peacock 
in  their  voice  and  in  some  of  their  habits.  During  the 
spring  the  males,  as  previously  described,  strut  about  be- 
fore the  comparatively  plain-colored  females,  expanding 
and  erecting  their  tail  and  wing  feathers,  which  are  orna- 
mented with  numerous  ocelli.  I  re(iuest  the  reader  to 
turn  back  to  the  drawing  (Fig.  51,  p.  86)  of  a  Polyplec- 
tron.  In  P.  jyapoleonis  the  ocelli  are  confined  to  the  tail, 
and  the  back  is  of  a  rich  metallic  blue,  in  which  respects 
this  species  approaches  the  Java  peacock.  P.  Ilardwickii 
possesses  a  peculiar  top-knot,  somewhat  like  that  of  this 
same  kind  of  peacock.  The  ocelli  on  the  wings  and  tail 
of  the  several  species  of  Polyplectron  are  either  circular 
or  oval,  and  consist  of  a  beautiful,  iridescent,  greenish- 
blue  or  greenish-purple  disk,  with  a  black  border.  This 
border  in  P.  chinquis  shades  into  brown  which  is  edged 
with  cream-color,  so  that  the  ocellus  is  here  surrounded 
with  differently,  though  not  brightly,  shaded  concentric 
zones.  The  imusual  length  of  the  tail-coverts  is  another 
highly-remarkable  character  in  Polyplectron;  for  in  some 
of  the  species  they  are  half  as  long,  and  in  others  two- 
thirds  of  the  length  of  the  true  tail-feathers.  The  tail-cov- 
erts are  ocellated,  as  in  the  peacock.  Thus  the  several 
species  of  Polyjilectron  manifestly  make  a  graduated  ap- 
proach in  the  length  of  their  tail-coverts,  in  the  zoning  of 
the  ocelli,  and  in  some  other  characters,  to  the  peacock. 

Notwithstanding  this  approach,  the  first  species  of 
Polyplectron  which  I  hapj)eued  to  examine  almost  made 
me  give  up  the  search  ;  for  I  found  not  only  that  the  true 
tail-feathers,  which  in  the  peacock  are  quite  plain,  Avere 
ornamented  with  ocelli,  but  that  the  ocelli  on  all  the 
feathers  differed  fundamentallj^  from  those  of  the  peacock, 
in  there  being  two  on  the  same  feather  (Fig.  54),  one  on 
each  side  of  the  shaft.     Hence  I  concluded  that  the  early 


Chap.  XIV.]  GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERS. 


133 


progenitors  of  the  peacock  could  not  have  resembled 
in  any  degree  a  Polyplectron. 
But  on  continuing  my  search, 
I  observed  that  in  some  of  the 
species  the  two  ocelli  stood 
very  near  each  other  ;  that  in 
the  tail-feathers  of  P.  liard- 
wickii  they  touched  each 
other ;  and,  finally,  that  in  the 
tail-coverts  of  this  same  spe- 
cies as  well  as  of  P.  malaccense 
(Fig,  55)  they  were  actually 
confluent.  As  the  central  part 
alone  is  confluent,  an  indenta- 
tion is  left  at  both  the  ui^per 
and  lower  ends ;  and  the  sur- 
rounding colored  zones  are 
likewise  indented.  A  single 
ocellus  is  thus  formed  on  each   Fi«-  54.-Pait  of  a  taii-covert  of 

Poly    plectron      ehinquis,     with 

tail-covert,  though  still  plainly 
betraying  its  double  origin. 
These  confluent  ocelli  difler 
from  the  single  ocelli  of  the 
peacock  in  having  an  indenta- 
tion at  both  ends,  instead  of  at 
the  lower  or  basal  end  alone. 
The  explanation,  however,  of 
this  difierence  is  not  diflacult ; 
in  some  species  of  Polyplec- 
ti'on  the  two  oval  ocelli  on  the 
same  feather  stand  parallel  to 
each  other ;  in  other  species 
(as  in  P.  chinquis)   they  con-  Ym.  55.  -Part  of  a  tuii-coveit  of 

verge    toward    one    end;     now         Polyplectron     malaccense,    with 
°  '  the  two  ocelli,   partially  conflu- 

the    partial   confluence   of  two        ent,  of  natural  size. 


the  two  ocelli  of  natural  size. 


134  SEXUAL  SELECTION :  BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

convcrixeiit  ocelli  would  manifestly  leave  a  much  deeper 
indentation  at  the  divergent  than  at  the  convergent  end. 
It  is  also  manifest  that,  if  the  convergence  were  strongly 
pronounced  and  the  confluence  complete,  the  indentation 
at  the  convergent  end  would  tend  to  be  quite  obliterated. 

The  tail-feathers  in  both  species  of  peacock  are  entire- 
ly destitute  of  ocelli,  and  this  apparently  is  related  to 
their  being  covered  u})  and  concealed  by  the  long  tail-cov- 
erts. In  this  respect  they  differ  remarkably  from  the 
tail-feathers  of  Polyi>lectron,  which  in  most  of  the  species 
are  ornamented  with  larger  ocelli  than  those  on  the  tail- 
coverts.  Hence  I  was  led  carefully  to  examine  the  tail- 
feathers  of  the  several  species  of  Polyplectron,  in  order  to 
discover  whether  the  ocelli  in  any  of  them  showed  any 
tendency  to  disappear,  and,  to  my  great  satisfaction,  I  was 
successful.  The  central  tail-feathers  of  P.  N'apoleonis 
have  the  two  ocelli  on  each  side  of  the  shaft  perfectly  de- 
veloped ;  but  the  inner  ocellus  becomes  less  and  less  con- 
spicuous on  the  more  exterior  tail-feathers,  until  a  mere 
shadow  or  rudimentary  vestige  is  left  on  the  inner  side  of 
the  outermost  feather.  Again,  in  P.  malaccense,  the 
ocelli  on  the  tail-coverts  are,  as  we  have  seen,  confluent ; 
and  these  feathers  are  of  unusual  length,  being  two-thirds 
of  the  length  of  the  tail-feathers,  so  that  in  both  these 
respects  they  resemble  the  tail-coverts  of  the  peacock. 
Now  in  this  species  the  two  central  tail-feathers  alone  are 
ornamented,  each  with  two  brightly-colored  ocelli,  the 
ocelli  having  completely  disappeared  from  the  inner  sides 
of  all  the  other  tail-feathers.  Consequently  the  tail-cov- 
erts and  tail-feathers  of  this  species  of  Polyplectron  make 
a  near  approach  in  structure  and  ornamentation  to  the 
corresponding  feathers  of  the  peacock. 

As  far,  then,  as  the  principle  of  gradation  throws  light 
on  the  steps  by  which  the  magniflcent  train  of  the  pea- 
cock has  been  acquired,  hardly  any  thing  more  is  needed. 


Chap.  XIV.]  GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERS.  135 

We  may  picture  to  ourselves  a  progenitor  of  the  peacock 
in  an  almost  exactly  intermediate  condition  between  the 
existing  peacock,  with  his  enormously  elongated  tail-cov- 
erts, ornamented  with  single  ocelli,  and  an  ordinary  gal- 
linaceous bird  with  short  tail-coverts,  merely  spotted  with 
some  color;  and  we  shall  then  see  in  our  mind's  eye  a 
bird  possessing  tail-coverts,  capable  of  erection  and  ex- 
pansion, ornamented  with  two  partially  confluent  ocelli, 
and  long  enough  almost  to  conceal  the  tail-feathers — the 
latter  having  already  partially  lost  their  ocelli ;  we  shall 
see,  in  short,  a  Polyplectron.  The  indentation  of  the  cen- 
tral disk  and  surrounding  zones  of  the  ocellus  in  both  sjie- 
cies  of  peacock,  seems  to  me  to  speak  plainly  in  favor  of 
this  view ;  and  this  structure  is  otherwise  inexplicable. 
The  males  of  Polyplectron  are  no  doubt  very  beautiful 
birds,  but  their  beauty,  when  viewed  from  a  little  dis- 
tance, cannot  be  compared,  as  I  formerly  saw  in  the  Zoo- 
logical Gardens,  with  that  of  the  peacock.  Many  female 
progenitors  of  the  peacock  must,  during  a  long  line  of  de- 
scent, have  appreciated  this  superiority ;  for  they  have 
unconsciously,  by  the  continued  preference  of  the  most 
beautiful  males,  rendered  the  peacock  the  most  splendid 
of  living  birds. 

Argus  Pheasant. — Another  excellent  case  for  investi- 
gation is  ofiered  by  the  ocelli  on  the  wing-feathers  of  the 
Argus  pheasant,  which  are  shaded  in  so  wonderful  a  man- 
ner as  to  resemble  balls  lying  within  sockets,  and  which 
consequently  differ  from  ordinary  ocelli.  No  one,  I  pre- 
sume, will  attribute  the  shading,  which  has  excited  the  ad- 
miration of  many  experienced  artists,  to  chance — to  the 
fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms  of  coloring  matter.  That 
these  ornaments  should  have  been  foi*med  thi-ough  the 
selection  of  many  successive  variations,  not  one  of  which 
was  ox'iginally  intended   to   produce  the   ball-and-socket 


13G  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

eftcct,  seems  as  incredible,  as  that  one  of  Raphael's  Ma- 
donnas sliould  have  been  formed  by  the  selection  of 
chance  daubs  of  paint  made  by  a  lonor  succession  of  young 
artists,  not  one  of  whom  intended  at  first  to  draw  the 
human  figure.  In  order  to  discover  how  the  ocelli  have 
been  develo])ed,  we  cannot  look  to  a  long  line  of  progeni- 
tors, nor  to  various  closely-allied  forms,  for  such  do  not 
now  exist.  But  fortunately  the  several  feathers  on  the 
wing  suffice  to  give  us  a  clew  to  the  problem,  and  they 
prove  to  demonstration  that  a  gradation  is  at  least  pos- 
sible from  a  mere  spot  to  a  finished  ball-and-socket  ocel- 
lus. 

The  wing-feathers,  bearing  the  ocelli,  are  covered  with 
dark  stripes  or  rows  of  dark  spots,  each  stripe  or  row  run- 
ning obliquely  down  the  outer  side  of  the  shaft  to  an  ocel- 
lus. The  spots  are  generally  elongated  in  a  transverse 
line  to  the  row  in  which  they  stand.  They  often  be- 
come confluent,  either  in  the  line  of  the  row — and  then 
they  form  a  longitudinal  stripe — or  transversely,  that 
is,  with  the  spots  in  the  adjoining  rows,  and  then  they 
form  transverse  stripes.  A  spot  sometimes  breaks 
up  into  smaller  spots,  which  still  stand  in  their  proper 
places. 

It  will  be  convenient  first  to  describe  a  perfect  ball- 
and-socket  ocellus.  This  consists  of  an  intensely  black 
circular  ring,  surrounding  a  space  shaded  so  as  exactly  to 
resemble  a  ball.  The  figure  here  given  has  been  admi- 
rably drawn  by  Mr.  P^'ord,  and  engraved,  but  a  w^oodcut 
cannot  exhibit  the  exquisite  shading  of  the  original.  The 
ring  is  almost  always  slightly  broken  or  interrupted  (see 
Fig.  56)  at  a  point  in  the  upper  half,  a  little  to  the  right 
of  and  above  the  white  shade  on  the  enclosed  ball  5  it  is 
also  sometimes  broken  toward  the  base  on  the  right  hand. 
These  little  breaks  have  an  im]>()rtant  meaning.  The  ring 
is    always   much    thickened,  with   the   edges    ill-defined 


Chap.  XIV.]  GRADATION   OF   CHARACTER, 


137 


toward  the  left-Land  upper  corner,  the  feather  being  held 
erect,  in   the  position  a  b      c 

in  which  it  is  here 
drawn.  Beneath  this 
thickened  part  there  is 
on  the  surface  of  the 
ball  an  oblique  almost 
pure-white  mark  whicli 
shades  ofi  downward 
into  a  pale-leaden  hue, 
and  this  into  yellow- 
ish and  brown  tints, 
which  insensibly  be- 
come darker  and  dark- 
er toward  the  lower 
part  of  the  ball.  It 
is  this  shading,  which 
gives  so  admirably  the 
effect  of  light  shining 
on  a  convex  surface. 
If  one  of  the  balls  be 
examined,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  loAver 
part  is   of  a  browner 

lint  oiirl  i<j  inrli«tinr>flxr  Fig.  56.— Part  of  Secondary  winsr-reather  of 
imt  ana  is  maiSlinctiy  ^^.^^^  pheasanf,  showing  two.  «  anrl  b,  per- 

HPnfiTntpfl    \\\r  o  piir-eprl  feet  ocelli.     A,  B,  C,  etc..  dark  stripes  run- 

Sepai  area    Oy  a  CUrveCl  ^^^^^  obliquely  down,  each  to  an  ocellus. 

oblique    line    from    the    [Much  of  the  web  on  both  sides,  especially  to 
.  the  left  of  the  shaft,  has  been  cut  off]- 

upper    part,   which   is 

yellower  and  more  leaden ;  this  oblique  line  runs  at  right 
angles  to  the  longer  axis  of  the  wliite  patch  of  light,  and 
indeed  of  all  the  shading ;  but  this  difference  in  the  tints, 
which  cannot  of  course  be  shown  in  the  woodcut,  does  not 
in  the  least  interfere  with  the  perfect  shading  of  the  ball.^^ 

*s  When  the  Argus  pheasant  displays  his  wing-feathers  hke  a  great 
fan,  those  nearest  to  the  body  stand  more  upright  than  the  outer  ones, 


138 


SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Pakt  II. 


It  shoukl  be  i)articiilarly  observed  that  each  ocellus  stands 
in  obvious  connection  with  a  dark  stripe,  or  row  of  dark 
spots,  lor  both  occur  indiflerently  on  the  same  feather. 
Thus  ill  ViiT.  50  stripe  A  runs  to  ocellus  a  ;  B  inins  to  ocellus 
h ;  stripe  C  is  broken  in  the  upper  part  and  runs  do^\^l  to 
the  next  succeeding  ocellus,  not  rejiresented  in  the  wood- 
cut ;  D  to  the  next  lower  one,  and  so  with  the  stripes  E  and 

F.  Lastly,  the  several  ocelli 
are  separated  from  each  oth- 
er by  a  pale  sui-f:ice  bearing 
irregular  black  marks. 

I  will  next  describe 
the  other  extreme  of  the 
series,  namely,  the  first 
trace  of  an  ocellus.  The 
short  secondary  wing- 
feather  (Fig.  57),  nearest 
to  the  body,  is  marked, 
like  the  other  feathers, 
Avith  oblique,  longitudi- 
\  --■'  nal,  rather  irregular,  rows 

of  sjtots.     The  lowest  spot, 
or  that  nearest  the  shaft, 
in  the  five  lower  rows  (ex- 
\     I  eluding  the  basal  row)  is 

a    little    larger    than    the 

Fig.  ."JT.— Baenl    part   of  the    Secondary        ,  "^ .         , 

winsi-fcatlicr,  nearest  to  the  body.  OtiKT     SpotS    in    the    Same 

SO  that  the  shading  of  the  ball-and-socket  ocelli  ought  to  be  slightly 
different  on  the  different  feathers,  in  order  to  bring  out  their  full  effect, 
relatively  to  the  incidence  of  the  light.  Mr.  T.  W.  Wood,  who  has  the 
c.Kperienced  eye  of  an  artist,  asserts  ('Field,'  newspaper.  May  28,  1870, 
p.  4r)7)  that  this  is  the  case ;  but  after  carefully  examining  two  mounted 
specimens  (the  proper  feathers  from  one  having  been  given  to  me  by  Mr. 
(Jould  for  more  accurate  comparison)  I  cannot  perceive  that  this  acme 
of  l)erfcction  in  the  shading  has  been  attained  ;  nor  can  others  to  whom 
I  have  shown  these  feathers  recognize  the  fact. 


Chap.  XIV.]        GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERS.  139 

row,  and  a  little  more  elongated  in  a  transverse  direction. 
It  differs  also  from  the  other  spots  by  being  bordered  on 
its  upper  side  with  some  dull  fulvous  shading.  But  this 
spot  is  not  in  any  way  more  remarkable  than  those  on  the 
plumage  of  many  birds,  and  might  easily  be  quite  over- 
looked. The  next  higher  spot  in  each  row  does  not  diifer 
at  all  from  the  upper  ones  in  the  same  row,  although  in 
the  following  series  it  becomes,  as  we  shall  see,  greatly 
modified.  The  larger  spots  occupy  exactly  the  same  rela- 
tive position  on  this  feather  as  those  occupied  by  the  per- 
fect ocelli  on  the  longer  wing-feathers. 

By  looking  to  the  next  two  or  three  succeeding  sec- 
ondary wing-feathers,  an  absolutely  insensible  gradation 
can  be  traced  from  one  of  the  above-described  lower 
spots,  together  with  the  next  higher  one  in  the  same  row, 
to  a  curious  ornament,  which  cannot  be  called  an  ocellus, 
and  which  I  will  name,  from  the  want  of  a  better  term,  an 
"  elliptic  ornament."  These  are  shown  in  the  accompany- 
ing figure  (Fig.  58).  We  here  see  several  oblique  rows, 
A,  B,  C,  D  (see  the  lettered  diagram),  etc.,  of  dark  spots 
of  the  usual  character.  Each  row  of  spots  runs  down  to 
and  is  connected  with  one  of  the  elliptic  ornaments,  in  ex- 
actly the  same  manner  as  each  stripe  in  Fig.  56  runs  down 
to,  and  is  connected  with,  one  of  the  ball-and-socket  ocelli. 
Looking  to  any  one  row,  for  instance,  B,  the  lowest  spot 
or  mark  (b)  is  thicker  and  considerably  longer  than  the 
upper  spots,  and  has  its  left  extremity  pointed  and  curved 
upward.  This  black  mark  is  abruptly  bordered  on  its 
upper  side  by  a  rather  broad  space  of  richly-shaded  tints, 
beginning  with  a  narrow  brown  zone,  which  passes  into 
orange,  and  this  into  a  pale  leaden  tint,  with  the  end 
toward  the  shaft  much  paler.  This  mark  corresponds  in 
every  respect  with  the  larger,  shaded  spot,  described  in 
the  last  pai'agraph  (Fig  57),  but  is  more  highly  developed 
and  more  brightly  colored.     To  the  right  and  above  this 


1-iO 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Part  II. 


spot  (b),  with  its  bright  shading,  there  is  a  long,  narrow, 
black  mark  (c),  belonging  to  the  same  row,  and  which  is 
arclied  ;i  little  downward  so  as  to  face  (b).  It  is  also 
narrowly  edged  on  the  lower  side  with  a  fulvous  tint.  To 
the  left  of  and  above  c,  in  the  same  oblique  direction,  but 


A         B      c 


Fig.  58.— Portion  of  one  of  the  Secondary  winj-fenthera  near  to  the  bodr  ;  show 
ing  the  so-called  elliptic  ornaments.  The  ri.;ht-hand  flgiire  is  eiven  merely 
as  a  diagram  for  the  sake  of  the  letters  of  reference. 


A,  B,  C,  etc.  Rows  of  spots  ruii'iincr 
down  to  and  formin;;  the  elliptic 
ornaments. 

b.  Lowest  spot  or  mark  in  row  B. 


c.  The  next  sncceeding  spot  or  mark 

in  the  same  row. 

d.  Apparently  a  broken  prolonsrsition 

of  the  spot  c  in  the  same  row  B. 


always  more  or  less  distinct  from  it,  there  is  another  black 
mark  (d).  This  mark  is  generally  sub-triangular  and  ir- 
regular in  shape,  but  in  the  one  lettered  in  the  diagram  is 
unusually  narrow,  elongated,  and  regular.  It  apparently 
consists  of  a  lateral  and  broken  prolongation  of  the  mark 
(c),  as  I  infer  from  traces  of  similar  prolongations  from 
the  succeeding  upper  spots  ;  but  I  do  not  feel  sure  of  this. 


Chap.  XIV.]  GRADATION   OF  CHARACTERS.  141 

These  three  marks,  5,  c,  and  d,  with  the  intervening  bright 
shades,  form  together  the  so-called  elliptic  ornament. 
These  oi-naments  stand  in  a  line  parallel  to  the  shaft,  and 
manifestly  correspond  in  position  with  the  ball-and-socket 
ocelli.  Their  extremely  elegant  appearance  cannot  be  ap- 
preciated in  the  drawing,  as  the  orange  and  leaden  tints, 
contrasting  so  well  with  the  black  marks,  cannot  be 
shown. 

Between  one  of  the  elliptic  ornaments  and  a  perfect 
ball-and-socket  ocellus,  the  gradation  is  so  perfect  that  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  decide  when  the  latter  term  ought 
to  be  used.  I  regret  that  I  have  not  given  an  additional 
drawing,  besides  Fig.  58,  which  stands  about  half-way  in 
the  series  between  one  of  the  simple  spots  and  a  perfect 
ocellus.  The  passage  from  the  elliptic  ornament  into  an 
ocellus  is  eifected  by  the  elongation  and  greater  curvature 
in  opposed  directions  of  the  lower  black  mark  [b),  and 
more  especially  of  the  upper  one  (c),  together  with  the 
contraction  of  the  irregular  sub-triangular  or  narrow  mark 
(c?),  so  that  at  last  these  three  marks  become  confluent, 
forming  an  irregular  elliptic  ring.  This  ring  is  gradually 
rendered  more  and  more  circular  and  regular,  at  the  same 
time  increasing  in  diameter.  Traces  of  the  junction  of  all 
three  elongated  spots  or  marks,  especially  of  the  two  upper 
ones,  can  still  be  observed  in  many  of  the  most  perfect 
ocelli.  The  broken  state  of  the  black  ring  on  the  upper 
side  of  the  ocellus  in  Fig.  56  was  pointed  out.  The  ir- 
regular sub-triangular  or  narrow  mark  (c?)  manifestly 
forms,  by  its  contraction  and  equalization,  the  thickened 
portion  of  the  ring  on  the  left  upper  side  of  the  perfect 
ball-and-socket  ocellus.  The  lower  part  of  the  ring  is  in- 
variably a  little  thicker  than  the  other  parts  (see  Fig.  56), 
and  this  follows  from  the  lower  black  mark  of  the  elliptic 
ornament  {b)  having  been  originally  thicker  than  the 
upper  mark  (c).     Every  step  can  be  followed  in  the  pro- 


142  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Paht  IT. 

coss  of  confluoiu'o  and  niodiiioation ;  and  the  black  ring 
which  surrounds  the  ball  of  the  ocellus  is  unquestionably 
formed  by  the  union  and  modification  of  the  three  black 
marks,  b,  c,  d,  of  the  elliptic  ornament.  The  irregular 
zigzag  l)lack  marks  between  the  successive  ocelli  (see 
again  Fig.  5G)  are  plainly  due  to  the  breaking  up  of  the 
somewhat  more  regular  but  similar  marks  between  the 
elliptic  ornaments. 

The  successive  steps  in  the  shading  of  the  ball-and- 
socket  ocelli  can  be  followed  out  with  equal  clearness. 
The  brown,  orange,  and  pale-leaden  narrow  zones  which 
border  the  lower  black  mark  of  the  elliptic  ornament  can 
be  seen  gradually  to  become  more  and  more  softened  and 
shaded  into  each  other,  with  the  upper  lighter  part  toward 
the  left-hand  corner  rendered  still  lighter,  so  as  to  become 
almost  white.  But  even  in  the  most  perfect  ball-and- 
socket  ocelli  a  slight  diftVrence  in  the  tints,  though  not  in 
the  shading,  between  the  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the 
ball  can  be  perceived  (as  w^as  before  especially  noticed), 
the  line  of  separation  being  oblique,  in  tlie  same  direction 
with  the  bright-colored  shades  of  the  elliptic  ornaments. 
Thus  almost  every  minute  detail  in  the  shape  and  coloring 
of  the  ball-and-socket  ocelli  can  be  shown  to  follow  from 
gradual  changes  in  the  elliptic  orna-ments;  and  the  de- 
velopment of  the  latter  can  be  traced  by  equally  small 
steps  from  the  imion  of  two  almost  simple  spots,  the  lower 
one  (Fig.  57)  having  some  dull  fulvous  shading  on  the 
upper  side. 

The  extremities  of  the  longer  secondary  feathers  which 
bear  the  perfect  ball-and-socket  ocelli  are  peculiarly  orna- 
mented. (Fig.  59.)  The  oblique  longitudinal  stripes 
suddenly  cease  upward  and  become  confused,  and  above 
this  limit  the  wdiole  upper  end  of  the  feather  (a)  is  covered 
with  white  dots,  surrounded  by  little  black  rings,  stand- 
ing on  a  dark  ground.     Even  the  oblique  stripe  belonging 


Chap.  XIV.]  GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERS. 


143 


to  the  uppermost  ocellus  (b)  is  represented  only  by  a  very 
short  irregular  black  mark  with  the  usual,  curved,  trans- 
verse base.  As  this  stripe  is  thus  abruptly  cut  off  above, 
we  can  understand,  from  what  has  gone  before,  how  it  is 
that  the  upper  thickened  part 
of  the  ring  is  absent  in  the 
uppermost  ocellus  ;  for,  as 
before  stated,  this  thickened 
part  is  apparently  formed 
by  a  broken  prolongation  of 
the  next  higher  spot  in  the 
same  row.  From  the  absence 
of  the  upper  and  thickened 
part  of  the  ring,  the  upper- 
most ocellus,  though  perfect 
in  all  other  respects,  appears 
as  if  its  top  had  been  ob- 
liquely sliced  off.  It  would,  I 
think,  perplex  any  one,  who 
believes  that  the  plumage  of 
the  Argus  pheasant  was  cre- 
ated as  we  now  see  it,  to  ac- 
count for  the  imperfect  condi- 
tion of  the  uppermost  ocelli. 
I  should  add  that  in  the  sec- 
ondary wing-feather  farthest 
from  the    body  all  the   ocelli 

are    smaller    and    less    perfect    Fio.sa— Portion  near  summit  of  oue 

,  ^       ,  of  the  Secondary  wine-feathers, 

than    on    the     other     feathers,         bearing     perfect    ball-and-socliet 

with    the    upper    parts    of   the    „    Omamented  upper  part. 

external  black  rings  deficient,  '■  YPJlT^ocdilr'S  'silldS 

as  in  the  case  just  mentioned.       l^^^^^,,^  .lI^'^LCis Tere'l 

The  imperfection  here  seems   ^  perfec\°ocenus? 

to  be  connected  with  the  fact 

that  the  spots  on  tins  feather  show  less  tendency  than 


144  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   BIRD^.  [Part  1L 

usual  to  become  confluent  into  stripes;  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  often  broken  up  into  smaller  spots,  so  that  two 
or  three  rows  run  down  to  each  ocellus. 

We  have  now  seen  that  a  perfect  series  can  be 
followed,  from  two  almost  simple  spots,  at  first  quite 
distinct  from  each  other,  to  one  of  the  wonderful 
ball-and-socket  ornaments.  Mr.  Gould,  who  kindly  gave 
me  some  of  these  feathers,  fully  agrees  with  me  in 
the  completeness  of  the  gradation.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  stages  in  devcloimient  exhibited  by  the  feathers 
on  the  same  bird  do  not  at  all  necessarily  show  us  the 
steps  which  have  been  passed  through  by  the  extinct  pro- 
genitors of  the  species  ;  but  they  probaldy  give  us  the 
clew  to  the  actual  steps,  and  they  at  least  prove  to  demon- 
stration that  a  gradation  is  possible.  Bearing  in  mind 
how  carefully  the  male  Argus  pheasant  displays  his 
plumes  before  the  female,  as  well  as  the  many  facts  ren- 
dering it  probable  that  female  birds  prefer  the  more  at- 
tractive males,  no  one  who  admits  the  agency  of  sexual 
selection  will  deny  that  a  simple  dark  spot  with  some 
fulvous  shading  might  be  converted  through  the  approxi- 
mation and  modification  of  the  adjoining  spots,  together 
with  some  slight  increase  of  color,  into  one  of  the  so-called 
elliptic  ornaments.  These  latter  ornaments  have  been 
shown  to  many  persons,  and  all  have  admitted  that  they 
are  extremely  pretty,  some  tliinking  them  even  more 
beautiful  than  the  ball-and-socket  ocelli.  As  the  second- 
ary plumes  became  lengthened  through  sexual  selection, 
and  as  the  elliptic  ornaments  increased  in  diameter,  their 
colors  apparently  became  less  bright ;  and  then  the  orna- 
mentation of  the  plumes  had  to  be  gained  by  imjn-ove- 
ments  in  the  pattern  and  shading ;  and  this  process  has 
been  carried  on  until  the  wonderful  ball-and-socket  ocelli 
have  been  finally  developed.  Thus  we  can  miderstand — 
and  in  no  other  way,  as  it  seems  to  me — the  present  con- 


Chap.  XIV.]  GRADATION   OF   CHARACTERS.  145 

dition  and  origin  of  the  ornaments  on  the  wing-feathers 
of  the  Argus  pheasant. 

From  the  light  reflected  by  the  principle  of  gradation ; 
from  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  variation;  from  the 
changes  which  have  taken  place  in  many  of  our  domesti- 
cated birds ;  and,  lastly,  from  the  character  (as  we  shall 
hereafter  more  clearly  see)  of  the  immature  plumage  of 
young  birds — we  can  sometimes  indicate,  with  a  certain 
amount  of  confidence,  the  probable  steps  by  which  the 
males  have  acquired  their  brilliant  plumage  and  various 
ornaments ;  yet  in  many  cases  we  are  involved  in  dark- 
ness. Mr.  Gould  several  years  ago  pointed  out  to  me  a 
humming-bird,  the  JJrosticte  henjaynini,  remarkable  from 
the  curious  differences  presented  by  the  two  sexes.  The 
male,  besides  a  splendid  gorget,  has  greenish-black  tail- 
feathers,  with  the  four  central  ones  tipped  with  white ;  in 
tlie  female,  as  with  most  of  the  allied  species,  the  three 
outer  tail-feathers  on  each  side  are  tipped  with  white,  so 
that  the  male  has  the  four  central,  while  the  female  has  the 
six  exterior  feathers  ornamented  with  white  tips.  What 
makes  the  case  curious  is  that,  although  the  coloring  of 
the  tail  differs  remarkably  in  both  sexes  of  many  kinds 
of  humming-birds,  Mr.  Gould  does  not  know  a  single 
species,  besides  the  Urosticte,  in  which  the  male  has  the 
four  central  feathers  tipped  with  white. 

The  Duke  of  Argyll,  in  commenting  on  this  case," 
passes  over  sexual  selection,  and  asks,  "  What  explanation 
does  the  law  of  natural  selection  give  of  such  specific  va- 
rieties as  these  ?  "  He  answers  "  none  whatever ; "  and  I 
quite  agree  with  him.  But  can  this  be  so  confidently 
said  of  sexual  selection  ?  Seeing  in  how  many  ways  the 
tail-feathers  of  humming-birds  differ,  why  should  not  the 
four  central  feathers  have  varied  in  this  one  species  alone, 

«  'The  Reign  of  Law,'  1867,  p.  247. 
26 


146  SEXUAL  SELECTION:    BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

SO  as  to  have  aqcuired  white  tips?  The  variations  may 
have  bt'cn  gradual,  or  somewhat  abrupt  as  in  the  case  re- 
cently given  of  the  humming-birds  near  Bogota,  in  which 
certain  individuals  alone  have  the  "central  tail-feathers 
tipped  with  beautiful  green."  In  the  female  of  the  Uros- 
ticte  I  noticed  extremely  minute  or  rudimental  white  tips 
to  the  two  outer  of  the  four  central  black  tail-feathers ;  so 
that  here  we  have  an  indication  of  change  of  some  kind  in 
the  plumage  of  this  species.  If  we  grant  the  possibility 
of  the  central  tail-featliers  of  the  male  varying  in  white- 
ness, there  is  nothing  strange  in  such  variations  having 
been  sexually  selected.  The  white  tips,  together  with 
the  stnall  white  ear-tufts,  certainly  add,  as  the  Duke  of 
Argyll  admits,  to  the  beauty  of  the  male ;  and  whiteness 
is  ajjparently  appreciated  by  other  birds,  as  may  be  in- 
ferred from  such  cases  as  the  snow-white  male  of  the  Bell- 
bird.  The  statement  made  by  Sir  R.  Heron  should  not 
be  forgotten,  namely,  that  his  peahens,  when  debaiTcd 
from  access  to  the  pied  peacock,  would  not  unite  with  any 
other  male,  and  during  that  season  produced  no  offspring. 
Nor  is  it  strange  that  variations  in  the  tail-feathers  of  the 
Urosticte  should  have  been  specially  selected  for  the  sake 
of  ornament,  for  the  next  succeeding  genus  in  the  family 
takes  its  name  of  Metallura  from  the  splendor  of  these 
feathers.  ^Ir.  Gould,  after  describing  the  peculiar  plu- 
mage of  the  Urosticte,  adds,  "  that  ornament  and  vai-iety 
is  the  sole  object,  I  have  myself  but  little  doubt."  '"  If  this 
be  admitted,  we  can  perceive  tliat  the  males  which  were 
decked  in  the  most  elegant  and  novel  manner  would  have 
gained  an  advantage,  not  in  the  ordinary  struggle  for  life, 
but  in  rivalry  with  other  males,  and  would  consequently 
have  left  a  larger  number  of  offspring  to  inherit  their 
newly-acquired  beauty. 

*»  'Introduction  to  the  Trochilid.ne'  1861,  p.  110. 


Chap.  XV.]        SEXFALLY-LIMITED   INHERITANCE.  I47 


CHAPTER  XV. 

BiRBa— continued. 

Discussion  why  the  Males  alone  of  some  Species,  and  both  Sexes  of  other 
Species,  are  brightly  colored. — On  Sexually-limited  Inheritance,  as  ap- 
plied to  Various  Structures  and  to  Brightly-colored  Plumage. — Nidifi- 
catiou  in  Relation  to  Color. — Loss  of  Nuptial  Plumage  during  the 
Winter. 

We  have  in  this  chapter  to  consider,  why  with  many- 
kinds  of  birds  the  female  has  not  received  the  same  orna- 
ments as  the  male;  and  why,  with  many  others,  both 
sexes  are  equally,  or  almost  equally,  ornamented  ?  In  the 
following  chapter  we  shall  consider  why  in  some  few  rare 
cases  the  female  is  more  conspicuously  colored  than  the 
male. 

In  my  '  Origin  of  Species '  *  I  briefly  suggested  that 
the  long  tail  of  the  peacock  would  be  inconvenient,  and 
the  conspicuous  black  color  of  the  male  capercailzie  dan- 
gerous, to  the  female  during  the  period  of  incubation ;  and 
consequently  that  the  transmission  of  these  characters 
from  the  male  to  the  female  offspring  had  been  checked 
through  natural  selection.  I  still  think  that  this  may 
have  occurred  in  some  few  instances :  but  after  mature 
reflection  on  all  the  facts  which  I  have  been  able  to  collect, 
I  am  now  inclined  to  believe  tliat  when  the  sexes  differ, 
the  successive  variations  have  generally  been  from  the 
first  limited  in  their  transmission  to  the  same  sex  in  which 

1  Fourth  edition,  1866,  p.  241. 


148  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

they  first  appearcrl.  Since  my  remarks  appeared,  the  sub- 
ject of  sexual  coloration  has  been  discussed  in  some  very 
interesting  papers  by  Mr.  Wallace,"  who  believes  that  in 
almost  all  cases  the  successive  variations  tended  at  first  to 
be  transmitted  equally  to  both  sexes ;  but  that  the  female 
was  saved,  through  natural  selection,  from  acquiring  the 
conspicuous  colors  of  the  male,  owing  to  the  danger  which 
she  would  thus  have  incurred  during  incubation. 

This  view  necessitates  a  tedious  discussion  on  a  diffi- 
cult point,  namely,  whether  the  transmission  of  a  charac- 
ter, which  is  at  first  inherited  by  both  sexes,  can  be  subse- 
quently limited  in  its  transmission,  by  means  of  selection, 
to  one  sex  alone.  We  must  bear  in  mind,  as  shown  in  the 
preliminary  chapter  on  sexual  selection,  that  characters 
which  are  limited  in  their  development  to  one  sex  are 
always  latent  in  the  other.  An  imaginary  illustration  will 
best  aid  us  in  seeing  the  difficulty  of  the  case :  we  may 
suppose  that  a  fancier  wished  to  make  a  breed  of  pigeons, 
in  which  the  males  alone  should  be  colored  of  a  pale  blue, 
while  the  females  retained  their  former  slaty  tint.  As  with 
pigeons  characters  of  all  kinds  are  usually  transmitted  to 
both  sexes  equally,  the  fancier  would  have  to  try  to  con- 
vert this  latter  form  of  inheritance  into  sexually-limited 
transmission.  All  that  he  could  do  would  be  to  persevere 
in  selecting  every  male  pigeon  which  was  in  the  least 
degree  of  a  paler  blue ;  and  the  natural  result  of  this  pro- 
cess, if  steadily  carried  on  for  a  long  time,  and  if  the  pale 
variations  were  strongly  inherited  or  often  recurred,  would 
be  to  make  his  whole  stock  of  a  lighter  blue.  But  our 
fancier  would  be  compelled  to  match,  generation  af^er  gen- 
eration, his  pale-blue  males  with  slaty  females,  for  he  wishes 
to  keep  the  latter  of  this  color.  The  result  would  generally 
be   the  production    either  of  a   mongrel   piebald  lot,  or 

*  '  Westminster    Review,''    July,    1867.     'Journal    of  Travel,'  vol.  i. 
1868,  p.  73. 


Chap.  XV.]       SEXUALLY-LIMITED   INHERITANCE.  I49 

more  probably  the  speedy  and  complete  loss  of  the  pale- 
blue  color,  for  the  primordial  slaty  tint  would  be  trans- 
mitted with  prepotent  force.  Supposing,  however,  that 
some  pale-blue  males  and  slaty  females  were  produced 
during  each  successive  generation,  and  were  always  crossed 
together ;  then  the  slaty  females  would  have,  if  I  may  use 
the  expression,  much  blue  blood  in  their  veins,  for  their 
fathers,  grandfathers,  etc.,  will  all  have  been  blue  birds. 
Under  these  circiimstances  it  is  conceivable  (though  I 
know  of  no  distinct  facts  rendering  it  probable)  that  the 
slaty  females  might  acquire  so  strong  a  latent  tendency  to 
pale-blueness  that  they  would  not  destroy  this  color  in  theii' 
male  oiFspring,  their  female  offspring  still  inheriting  the 
slaty  tint.  If  so,  the  desired  end  of  making  a  breed  with 
the  two  sexes  permanently  different  in  color  might  be 
gained. 

The  extreme  importance,  or  rather  necessity,  of  the  de- 
sired character  in  the  above  case,  namely,  pale-blueness, 
being  present  though  in  a  latent  state  in  the  female,  so  that 
the  male  offspring  should  not  be  deteriorated,  will  be  best 
appreciated  as  follows :  the  male  of  Soemmerring's  pheasant 
has  a  tail  thirty-seven  inches  in  length,  while  that  of  the 
female  is  only  eight  inclies  ;  the  tail  of  the  male  common 
pheasant  is  about  twenty  inches  and  that  of  the  female 
twelve  inches  long.  Now  if  the  female  Soemmerring  pheas- 
ant with  her  short  tail  were  crossed  with  the  male  com- 
mon pheasant,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  male  hybrid 
offspring  would  have  a  much  longer  tail  than  that  of  the 
pure  offspring  of  the  common  pheasant.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  female  common  pheasant,  with  her  tail  nearly 
twice  as  long  as  that  of  the  female  Soemmerring  pheasant, 
were  crossed  with  the  male  of  the  latter,  the  male  hybrid 
offspring  would  have  a  much  shorter  tail  than  that  of  the 
pure  offspring  of  Scemmerring's  pheasant.' 

3  Temminck  says  that  the  tail  of  the  female  Phasianus  Sammerringii 


150  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

Our  fancier,  in  order  to  make  liis  new  breed  with  the 
males  of  a  decided  pale-hUie  tint,  and  the  femak'S  un- 
changed, would  have  to  continue  selecting  the  males  during 
many  generations;  and  each  stage  of  paleness  would  have 
to  be  fixed  in  the  males,  and  rendered  latent  in  the  fe- 
males. The  task  would  be  an  extremely  difficult  one,  and 
has  never  been  tried,  but  might  possibly  succeed.  The 
chief  obstacle  would  be  the  early  and  complete  loss  of  the 
pale-blue  tint,  from  the  necessity  of  reiterated  crosses  with 
tlie  slaty  female,  the  latter  not  having  at  first  any  latent 
tendency  to  produce  pale-blue  ofispring. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  one  or  two  males  were  to  vary 
ever  so  slightly  in  })aleness,  and  the  variations  were  from 
the  first  limited  in  their  transmission  to  the  male  sex,  the 
task  of  making  a  new  breed  of  the  desired  kind  would  be 
easy,  for  such  males  would  simply  have  to  be  selected  and 
matched  with  ordinary  females.  An  analogous  case  has 
actually  occurred,  for  there  are  breeds  of  the  pigeon  in 
Belgium*  in  which  the  males  alone  are  marked  with  black 
striae.  In  the  case  of  the  fowl,  variations  of  color  limited 
in  their  transmission  to  the  male  sex  habitually  occur. 
Even  when  this  form  of  inheritance  prevails,  it  might 
Avell  happen  that  some  of  the  successive  steps  in  the 
process  of  variation  might  be  transferred  to  the  female, 
who  would  then  come  to  resemble  in  a  slight  degree  the 
male,  as  occurs  in  some  breeds  of  the  fowl.  Or  again,  the 
greater  number,  but  not  all,  of  the  successive  steps  might 
be  transferred  to  both  sexes,  and  the  female  would  then 
closely  resemble  the  male.  There  can  hardly  be  a  doubt 
that  this  is  the  cause  of  the  male  pouter  pigeon  having  a 

is  only  six  iiu-hes  long.  'Planches  colorizes,'  vol.  v.  1838,  pp.  478,  408: 
the  measurements  above  given  were  made  for  me  by  Mr.  Sclater.  Por 
the  common  pheasant,  see  Slacgillivray,  'Hist.  British  Birds,'  vol.  i.  pp. 
118-121. 

*  Dr.  Chapuis,  'Le  Pigeon  Voyageur  Beige,'  1865,  p.  87. 


Chap.  XV.]        SEXUALLY-LIMITED   INHERITANCE.  151 

somewhat  larger  crop,  and  of  the  male  carrier-pigeon 
having  somewhat  larger  wattles,  than  their  respective  fe- 
males ;  for  fanciers  have  not  selected  one  sex  more  than  the 
other,  and  have  had  no  wish  that  these  characters  should 
be  more  strongly  displayed  in  the  male  than  in  the  female, 
yet  this  is  the  case  with  both  breeds. 

The  same  process  would  have  to  be  followed,  and  the 
same  difficulties  Avould  be  encountered,  if  it  were  desired 
to  make  a  breed  with  the  females  alone  of  some  new 
color. 

Lastly,  our  fancier  might  wish  to  make  a  breed  with  the 
two  sexes  diifering  from  each  other,  and  both  from  the 
parent-species.  Here  the  difficulty  would  be  extreme,  un- 
less the  successive  variations  were  from  the  first  sexually 
limited  on  both  sides,  and  then  there  would  be  no  diffi- 
culty. We  see  this  with  the  fowl ;  thus  the  two  sexes  of 
the  pencilled  Hamburgs  differ  greatly  from  each  other, 
and  from  the  two  sexes  of  the  aboriginal  Gallus  hankiva  ; 
and  both  are  now  kept  constant  to  their  standard  of  excel- 
lence by  continued  selection,  which  would  be  impossible 
unless  the  distinctive  characters  of  both  were  limited  in 
their  transmission.  The  Spanish  fowl  offers  a  more  curious 
case ;  tlie  male  has  an  immense  comb,  but  some  of  the  succes- 
sive variations,  by  the  accumulation  of  which  it  was  ac- 
quired, appear  to  have  been  transferred  to  the  female ;  for 
she  has  a  comb  many  times  larger  than  that  of  the  females 
of  the  parent-species.  But  the  comb  of  the  female  differs  in 
one  respect  from  that  of  the  male,  for  it  is  apt  to  lop  over ; 
and  within  a  recent  period  it  has  been  ordered  by  the  fancy 
that  this  should  always  be  the  case,  and  success  has  quickly 
followed  the  order.  Now,  the  lopping  of  the  comb  must 
be  sexually  limited  in  its  transmission,  otherwise  it  would 
prevent  the  comb  of  the  male  from  being  perfectly  upright, 
which  would  be  abhorrent  to  every  fancier.  On  the  other 
hand  the  uprightness  of  the  comb  in  the  male  must  likewise 


152  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

be  a  scxiuvlly-liinitc'd  character,  otherwise  it  would  prevent 
the  comb  of  the  female  from  lopping  over. 

From  the  foregoing  illustrations,  we  see  that,  even  with 
almost  unlimited  time  at  command,  it  woxdd  be  an  ex- 
tremely difficult  and  complex  process,  though  perhaps  not 
impossible,  to  change  through  selection  one  form  of  trans- 
mission into  the  other.  Therefore,  without  distinct  evi- 
dence in  each  case,  I  am  unwilling  to  admit  that  this  has  of- 
ten been  effected  with  natural  species.  On  the  other  hand, 
by  means  of  successive  variations,  which  were  from  the 
first  sexually  limited  in  their  transmission,  there  would  not 
be  the  least  difficulty  in  rendering  a  male  bird  widely  differ- 
ent in  color  or  in  any  other  character  from  the  female ;  the 
latter  being  left  unaltered,  or  slightly  altered,  or  specially 
modified,  for  the  sake  of  protection. 

As  bright  colors  are  of  service  to  the  males  in  their 
rivalry  with  other  males,  such  colors  would  be  selected, 
whether  or  not  they  were  transmitted  exclusively  to  the 
same  sex.  Consequently  the  females  might  be  expected 
often  to  partake  of  the  brightness  of  the  males  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree ;  and  this  occurs  with  a  host  of  species.  If 
all  the  successive  variations  w^cre  transmitted  equally  to 
both  sexes,  the  females  would  be  undistinguishable  from  the 
males ;  and  this  likewise  occurs  with  many  birds.  If,  how- 
ever, dull  colors  Avcre  of  high  importance  for  the  safety  of 
the  female  during  incubation,  as  with  many  ground  birds, 
the  females  which  varied  in  brightness,  or  which  received 
through  inheritance  from  the  males  any  marked  accession 
of  brightness,  would  sooner  or  later  be  destroyed.  But  the 
tendency  in  the  males  to  continue  for  an  indefinite  period 
transmitting  to  their  female  offspring  their  own  bright- 
ness, would  have  to  be  eliminated  by  a  change  in  the  form 
of  inheritance ;  and  this,  as  shown  by  our  previous  illus- 
tration, would  be  extremely  difficult.  The  more  probable 
result  of  the  lonij-continued  destruction  of  the  more  bright- 


Chap.  XV.]        SEXUALLY-LIMITED  INHERITANCE.  I53 

ly-colored  females,  supposing  the  equal  form  of  trans- 
mission to  prevail,  would  be  the  lessening  or  annihila- 
tion of  the  bright  colors  of  the  males,  owing  to  their 
continually  crossing  with  the  duller  females.  It  would 
be  tedious  to  follow  out  all  the  other  possible  results ;  but 
I  may  remind  the  reader,  as  shown  in  the  eighth  chapter, 
that  if  sexually-limited  variations  in  brightness  occurred 
in  the  females,  even  if  they  were  not  in  the  least  injurious 
to  them  and  consequently  were  not  eliminated,  yet  they 
would  not  be  favored  or  selected,  for  the  male  usually 
accepts  any  female,  and  does  not  select  the  more  attrac- 
tive individuals ;  consequently  these  variations  would  be 
liable  to  be  lost,  and  would  have  little  influence  on  the 
character  of  the  race  ;  and  this  will  aid  in  accounting  for 
the  females  being  commonly  less  brightly  colored  than 
the  males. 

In  the  chapter  just  referred  to,  instances  were  given, 
and  any  number  might  have  been  added,  of  variations 
occurring  at  diflerent  ages,  and  inherited  at  the  same 
age.  It  was  also  shown  that  variations  which  occur  late 
in  life  are  commonly  transmitted  to  the  same  sex  in 
which  they  first  appeared;  while  variations  occuri'ing 
early  in  life  are  apt  to  be  transmitted  to  both  sexes ;  not 
that  all  the  cases  of  sexually-limited  transmission  can  thus 
be  accounted  for.  It  was  further  shown  that  if  a  male 
bii'd  varied  by  becoming  brighter  while  young.  Such  varia- 
tions would  be  of  no  service  until  the  age  for  reproduction 
had  arrived,  and  there  was  competition  between  rival 
males.  But  in  the  case  of  birds  which  live  on  the  ground 
and  which  commonly  need  the  protection  of  dull  colors, 
bright  tints  would  be  far  more  dangerous  to  the  young 
and  inexperienced  than  to  the  adult  males.  Consequently 
the  males  which  varied  in  brightness  while  young  would 
suffer  much  destruction  and  be  eliminated  through  nat- 
ural selection  ;  on  the  other  hand  the  males  which  varied 


154  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

in  this  manner  when  nearly  mature,  notwitlistanding 
tliat  they  were  exposed  to  some  additional  danger, 
might  survive,  and,  from  being  favored  through  sexual 
selection,  would  procreate  their  kind.  The  hrightly-col- 
ored  young  males  being  destroyed  and  the  mature  ones 
being  successful  in  their  courtship  may  account,  on  the 
principle  of  a  relation  existing  between  the  period  of 
variation  and  the  form  of  transmission,  for  the  males 
alone  of  many  birds  having  acquired  and  transmitted 
brilliant  colors  to  their  male  oflfspring  alone.  But  I  by 
no  means  wish  to  maintain  that  the  influence  of  age 
on  the  form  of  transmission  is  indirectly  the  sole  cause 
of  the  great  difierence  in  brilliancy  between  the  sexes  of 
many  birds. 

As  with  all  birds  in  which  the  sexes  difier  in  color, 
it  is  an  interesting  question  whether  the  males  alone 
have  been  modified  through  sexual  selection,  the  fe- 
males being  left,  as  far  as  this  agency  is  concerned, 
unchanged  or  only  partially  changed ;  or  whether  the 
females  have  been  specially .  modified  through  natural 
selection  for  the  sake  of  protection,  I  will  discuss  this 
question  at  considerable  length,  even  at  greater  length 
than  its  intrinsic  importance  deserves  ;  for  various  cu- 
rious collateral  points  may  thus  be  conveniently  consid- 
ered. 

Before  we  enter  on  the  subject  of  color,  more  espe- 
cially in  reference  to  Mr.  Wallace's  conclusions,  it  may  be 
useful  to  discuss  under  a  similar  point  of  view  some  other 
differences  between  the  sexes.  A  breed  of  fowls  foimerly 
existed  in  Germany*  in  which  the  hens  were  furnished 
with  spurs ;  they  were  good  layers,  but  they  so  greatly 
disturbed  their  nests  with  their  spurs  that  they  could  not 
be  allowed  to  sit  on  their  own  eggs.     Hence  at  one  time 

*  Bechsteiu,  '  Natuigesch.  Doutschlands,'  1793,  B.  iii.  s.  339. 


Chap.  XV.]  DEVELOPMENT   OF   SPURS.  155 

it  appeared  to  me  probable  that  with  the  females  of  the 
wild  Gallinacese  the  development  of  spurs  had  been  checked 
through  natural  selection,  from  the  injury  thus  caused  to 
their  nests.  This  seemed  all  the  more  probable  as  the 
wing-spurs,  which  could  not  be  injurious  during  nidification, 
are  often  as  well  developed  in  the  female  as  in  the  male  ; 
though  in  not  a  few  cases  they  are  rather  larger  in  the 
male.  When  the  male  is  furnished  with  leg-spurs  the 
female  almost  always  exhibits  rudiments  of  them — the 
rudiments  sometimes  consisting  of  a  mere  scale,  as  with  the 
species  of  Gallus.  Hence  it  might  be  argued  that  the  fe- 
males had  aboriginally  been  furnished  with  well-developed 
spurs,  but  that  these  had  subsequently  been  lost  either 
through  "disuse  or  natural  selection.  But  if  this  view  be 
admitted,  it  would  have  to  be  extended  to  innumerable 
other  cases ;  and  it  implies  that  the  female  progenitors  of 
the  existing  spur-bearing  species  were  once  encumbered 
with  an  injurious  appendage. 

In  some  few  genera  and  species,  as  in  Galloperdix, 
Acomus,  and  the  Javan  peacock  [Pavo  muticus),  the  fe- 
males as  well  as  the  males  possess  well-developed  spurs. 
Are  we  to  infer  from  this  fact  that  they  construct  a  differ- 
ent sort  of  nest,  not  liable  to  be  injured  by  their  spurs, 
from  that  made  by  their  nearest  allies,  so  that  there  has 
been  no  need  for  the  removal  of  their  spurs  ?  Or  are  we 
to  suppose  that  these  females  especially  require  sj)urs  for 
their  defence  ?  It  is  a  more  probable  conclusion  that  both 
the  presence  and  absence  of  spurs  in  the  females  result  from 
different  laws  of  inheritance  having  prevailed,  indepen- 
dently of  natural  selection.  With  the  many  females  in 
which  spurs  appear  as  rudiments,  we  may  conclude  that  some 
few  of  the  successive  variations,  through  which  they  were 
developed  in  the  males,  occurred  very  early  in  life,  and 
were  as  a  consequence  transferred  to  the  females.  In  the 
other  and  much  rai-er  cases,  in  which  the  females  possess 


156  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   lilKUS.  [Part  IL 

fully-dcvelopcd  spurs,  we  may  conclude  that  all  the  succes- 
sive variations  were  transferred  to  them ;  and  that  they 
gradually  acquired  the  inherited  habit  of  not  disturbing 
their  nests. 

The  vocal  organs  and  the  variously-modified  feathers 
for  producing  sound,  as  well  as  the  proper  instincts  for 
using  them,  often  difler  in  the  two  sexes,  but  are  sometimes 
the  same  in  both.  Can  such  differences  be  accounted  for 
by  the  males  having  acquired  these  organs  and  instincts, 
while  the  females  have  been  saved  from  inheriluig  them, 
on  account  of  the  danger  to  which  they  would  have  been 
exposed  by  attracting  the  attention  of  birds  or  beasts  of 
prey  ?  This  does  not  seem  to  me  probable,  when  we  think 
of  the  multitude  of  birds  which  with  impunity  gladden  the 
country  with  their  voices  during  the  spring."  It  is  a  safer 
conclusion  that  as  vocal  and  instrumental  organs  are  of  spe- 
cial service  only  to  the  males  during  their  courtship,  these 
organs  were  developed  through  sexual  selection  and  con- 
tinued use  in  this  sex  alone — the  successive  variations  and 
the  effects  of  use  having  been  from  the  first  limited  in  their 
transmission  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  male  off- 
spring. 

Many  analogous  cases  could  be  advanced ;  for  instance, 
the  plumes  on  the  head,  which  are  generally  longer  in  the 
male  than  in  the  female,  sometimes  of  equal  length  in  both 
sexes,  and  occasionally  absent  in  the  female — these  several 
cases  sometimes  occurring  in  the  same  group  of  birds.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  account  for  a  difference  of  this  kind 
between  the  sexes  on  the  principle  of  the  female  having 
been  benefited  by  possessing  a  slightly  shorter  crest  than 

*  Daines  Barrington,  however,  thought  it  probable  (' Phil.  Transact.' 
1773,  p.  164)  that  few  female  birds  sing,  because  the  talent  would  have 
been  dangerous  to  them  during  incubation.  lie  adds,  that  a  similar 
view  may  jjossibly  account  for  the  inferiority  of  the  female  to  the  male 
in  plumage. 


Chap.  XV.]  LENGTH   OF   TAIL   IN  FEMALE.  157 

the  male,  and  its  consequent  diminution  or  complete  sup- 
pression through  natural  selection.  But  1  will  take  a 
more  favoi'able  case,  namely,  the  length  of  the  tail.  The 
long  train  of  the  peacock  would  have  been  not  only  incon- 
venient but  dangerous  to  the  peahen  during  the  period  of 
incubation  and  while  accompanying  her  young.  Hence 
there  is  not  the  least  a  priori  improbability  in  the  develop- 
ment of  her  tail  having  been  checked  through  natural 
selection.  But  the  females  of  various  pheasants,  which 
apparently  are  exposed  on  their  open  nests  to  as  much 
danger  as  the  peahen,  have  tails  of  considerable  length. 
The  females  as  well  as  the  males  of  the  Menura  superba 
have  long  tails,  and  they  build  a  domed  nest  which  is  a 
great  anomaly  in  so  large  a  bird.  Naturalists  have  won- 
dered how  the  female  Menura  could  manage  her  tail  during 
incubation ;  but  it  is  now  known '  that  she  "  enters  the  nest 
head  first,  and  then  turns  round  with  her  tail  sometimes 
over  her  back,  but  more  often  bent  round  by  her  side. 
Thus  in  time  the  tail  becomes  quite  askew,  and  is  a  toler- 
able guide  to  the  length  of  time  the  bird  has  been  sit- 
ting." Both  sexes  of  an  Australian  kingfisher  ( Tanysiptera 
Sylvia)  have  the  middle  tail-feathers  greatly  lengthened; 
and,  as  the  female  makes  her  nest  in  a  hole,  these  feathers 
become,  as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe,  much 
crumpled  dui'ing  nidification. 

In  these  two  cases  the  great  length  of  the  tail-feathers 
must  be  in  some  degree  inconvenient  to  the  female ;  and, 
as  in  both  species  the  tail-feathers  of  the  female  are  some- 
what shorter  than  those  of  the  male,  it  might  be  argued 
that  their  full  development  had  been  prevented  through 
natural  selection.  Judging  from  these  cases,  if,  with  the 
peahen,  the  development  of  the  tail  had  been  checked  only 
when  it  became  inconveniently  or  dangerously  long,  she 
would  have  acquired  a  much  longer  tail  than  she  actually 

^  Mr.  Ramsay,  in  Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc'  1868,  p.  50. 


158  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Pabt  H. 

possesses ;  for  Ler  tail  is  not  nearly  so  long,  relatively  to 
the  size  of  l)er  body,  as  that  of  many  female  pheasants, 
nor  longer  than  that  of  the  female  turkey.  It  must  also 
be  borne  in  mind  that,  in  accordance  with  this  view,  as 
soon  as  the  tail  of  the  peahen  became  dangerously  long, 
and  its  development  was  consequently  checked,  she  would 
have  continually  reacted  on  her  male  jjrogeny,  and  thus 
have  pi-evented  the  peacock  from  acquiring  his  present 
magnificent  train.  We  may  therefore  infer  that  the  length 
of  the  tail  in  the  peacock  and  its  shortness  in  the  jteahen 
are  the  result  of  the  requisite  variations  in  the  male  having 
been  from  the  first  transmitted  to  the  male  offspring 
alone. 

We  are  led  to  a  nearly  similar  conclusion  with  respect 
to  the  length  of  the  tail  in  the  various  species  of  pheas- 
ants. In  the  Eared  pheasant  ( Crossoptiloii  auritum)  the 
tail  is  of  equal  length  in  both  sexes,  namely,  sixteen  or 
seventeen  inches ;  in  the  common  pheasant  it  is  about 
twenty  inches  long  in  the  male,  and  twelve  in  the  female  ; 
in  Strminorring's  pheasant,  thirty-seven  inches  in  the  male, 
and  only  eight  in  the  female ;  and  lastly  in  Reeve's  pheas- 
ant it  is  sometimes  actually  seventy-two  inches  long  in  the 
male  and  sixteen  in  the  female.  Thus  in  the  several  spe- 
cies, the  tail  of  the  female  differs  much  in  length,  irrespec- 
tively of  that  of  the  male ;  and  this  can  be  accounted  for, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  with  much  more  probability,  by  the 
laws  of  inheritance — that  is,  by  the  successive  variations 
having  been  from  the  first  more  or  less  closely  limited  in 
their  transmission  to  the  male  sex — than  by  the  agency 
of  natural  selection,  owing  to  the  length  of  tail  having 
been  injurious  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  females  of 
the  several  species. 

We  may  now  consider  Mr.  Wallace's  arguments  in  re- 
gard to  the  sexual  coloration  of  birds.     He  believes  that 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND   NIDIFICATION.  159 

the  bright  tints,  originally  acquired  through  sexual  selec- 
tion by  the  males,  would  in  all  or  almost  all  cases  have 
been  transmitted  to  the  females,  unless  the  transference 
had  been  checked  through  natural  selection.  I  may  here 
remind  the  reader  that  various  facts  bearing  on  this  view 
have  already  been  given  under  reptiles,  amphibians, 
fishes,  and  lepidoptera.  Mr.  Wallace  rests  his  belief 
chiefly,  but  not  exclusively,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
chapter,  on  the  following  statement,*  that  when  both  sexes 
are  colored  in  a  strikingly-conspicuous  manner  the  nest  is 
of  such  a  natiire  as  to  conceal  the  sitting  bird ;  but  when 
there  is  a  marked  contrast  of  color  between  the  sexes,  the 
male  being  gay  and  the  female  dull  colored,  the  nest  is 
open  and  exposes  the  sitting  bird  to  view.  This  coinci- 
dence, as  far  as  it  goes,  certainly  supports  the  belief  that 
the  females  which  sit  on  open  nests  have  been  specially 
modified  for  the  sake  of  pi-otection.  Mr.  Wallace  admits 
that  there  are,  as  might  have  been  expected,  some  excep- 
tions to  his  two  rules,  but  it  is  a  question  whether  the 
exceptions  are  not  so  numerous  as  seriously  to  invalidate 
them. 

There  is  in  the  first  place  much  truth  in  the  Duke  of 
Argyll's  remark,"  that  a  large-domed  nest  is  more  con- 
spicuous to  an  enemy,  especially  to  all  tree-haunting  car- 
nivorous animals,  than  a  smaller  open  nest.  Nor  must 
we  forget  that  with  many  birds  which  build  open  nests 
the  males  sit  on  the  eggs  and  aid  in  feeding  the  young  as 
well  as  the  females :  this  is  the  case,  for  instance,  with 
Pyranga  oestiva^'^  one  of  the  most  splendid  birds  in  the 
United  States,  the  male  being  vermilion,  and  the  female 
light  brownish-green.  Now,  if  brilliant  colors  had  been 
extremely  dangerous  to  birds  while  sitting  on  their  open 

8  '  Journal  of  Travel,'  edited  by  A.  Murray,  vol.  i.  1868,  p.  '78. 

9  Ibid.  p.  281. 

'"  Audubon,  '  Ornithological  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  233. 


160  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

nests,  the  nuiles  in  these  cases  would  have  suffered  greatly. 
It  might,  however,  be  of  such  paramount  importance  to 
the  male  to  be  brilliantly  colored,  in  order  to  beat  his 
rivals,  that  this  would  more  than  compensate  for  some  ad- 
ditional danger. 

Mr.  Wallace  admits  that  with  the  King-crows  (Dicru- 
rus),  Orioles,  and  Pittida?,  the  females  are  conspicuously 
colored,  yet  they  build  open  nests ;  but  he  urges  that  the 
birds  of  the  first  group  are  highly  pugnacious  and  could 
defend  themselves ;  that  those  of  the  second  group  take 
extreme  care  in  concealing  their  open  nests,  but  this  does 
not  invariably  hold  good;  "  and  that  with  the  birds  of  the 
third  group  the  females  are  brightly  colored  chiefly  on 
the  under  surface.  Besides  these  cases  the  whole  great 
family  of  pigeons,  which  are  sometimes  brightly  and 
almost  always  conspicuously  colored,  and  which  are  noto- 
riously liable  to  the  attacks  of  birds  of  prey,  offers  a  seri- 
ous exception  to  the  rule,  for  pigeons  almost  always  build 
open  and  exposed  nests.  In  another  large  family,  that  of 
the  Humming-birds,  all  the  species  build  open  nests,  yet 
with  some  of  the  most  gorgeous  species  the  sexes  are 
alike ;  and,  in  the  majority,  the  females,  though  less  bril- 
liant than  the  males,  are  very  brightly  colored.  Nor  can 
it  be  maintained  that  all  female  humming-birds,  which  are 
brightly  colored,  escape  detection  by  their  tints  being 
green,  for  some  display  on  their  upper  surfaces  red,  blue, 
and  other  colors.'* 

"  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  ii.  p.  108.  Gould's  'Hand-book  of 
the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  p.  463. 

"  For  instance,  the  female  Eupetomena  macroura  has  the  head  and 
tail  dark  blue  with  reddish  loins;  the  female  Lampornis  porphyrurvs  is 
blackish-green  on  the  upper  surface,  with  the  lores  and  sides  of  the 
throat  crimson  ;  the  female  Eulampis  juffuhiris  has  the  top  of  the  head 
and  back  green,  but  the  loins  and  the  tail  are  crimson.  Many  other  in- 
stances of  highly-conspicuous  females  could  be  given.  See  Mr.  Gould's 
magnificent  work  on  this  family. 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND   NIDIFICATION.  161 

In  regard  to  birds  which  huild  in  holes  or  construct 
domed  nests,  other  advantages,  as  Mr.  Wallace  remarks, 
besides  concealment  are  gained,  such  as  shelter  from  the 
rain,  greater  warmth,  and  in  hot  countries  protection  from 
the  rays  of  the  sun ; "  so  that  it  is  no  valid  objection 
to  his  view  that  many  birds  having  both  sexes  obscurely 
coloi'ed  build  concealed  nests.'*  The  female  Horn-bills 
[JBuceros),  for  instance,  of  India  and  Africa  are  protected, 
during  nidification,  with  extraordinary  care,  for  the  male 
plasters  up  the  hole  in  which  the  female  sits  on  her  eggs, 
and  leaves  only  a  small  orifice  through  which  he  feeds 
her ;  she  is  thus  kept  a  close  prisoner  during  the  whole 
period  of  incubation;  '^  yet  female  hornbills  are  not  more 
conspicuously  colored  than  many  other  birds  of  equal  size 
which  build  open  nests.  It  is  a  more  serious  objection  to 
Mr.  Wallace's  view,  as  is  admitted  by  him,  that  in  some 
few  groups  the  males  are  brilliantly  colored  and  the  fe- 
males obscure,  and  yet  the  latter  hatch  their  eggs  in 
domed  nests.  This  is  the  case  with  the  Grallinte  of  Aus- 
tralia, the  Superb  Warblers  (Maluridfe)  of  the  same  conn- 
try,  the  Sun-birds  (Nectarinije),  and  with  several  of  the 
Australian  Honey-suckers  or  Meliphagidse." 

If  we  look  to  the  birds  of  England  we  shall  see  that 
there  is  no  close  and  general  relation  between  the  colors 
of  the  female  and  the  nature  of  the  nest  constructed  by 

"  Mr.  Salvin  noticed  in  Guatemala  ('  Ibis,'  1864,  p.  375)  that  hum- 
ming-birds were  much  more  unwilling  to  leave  their  nests  during  very 
hot  weather,  when  the  sun  was  shining  brightly,  than  during  cool, 
cloudy,  or  rainy  weather. 

'*  I  may  specify,  as  instances  of  obscurely- colored  birds  building 
concealed  nests,  the  species  belonging  to  eight  Australian  genera,  de- 
scribed in  Gould's  '  Hand-book  of  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  pp.  340, 
362,  365,  383,  387,  389,  391,  414. 

'^  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  p.  244. 

'^  On  the  nidification  and  colors  of  these  latter  species,  see  Gould's 
'  Hand-book,'  etc.,  vol.  i.  pp.  504,  527. 


162  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Pakt  IL 

her.  About  forty  of  our  British  birds  (excluding  those  of 
large  size  which  could  defend  themselves)  build  in  holes 
in  banks,  rocks,  or  trees,  or  construct  domed  nests.  If 
we  take  tlie  colors  of  the  female  goldfinch,  bullfinch,  or 
blackbird,  as  a  standard  of  the  degree  of  conspicuousness, 
which  is  not  highly  dangerous  to  the  sitting  female,  then, 
out  of  the  above  forty  birds,  the  females  of  only  twelve 
can  be  considered  as  conspicuous  to  a  dangerous  degree, 
the  remaining  twenty-eight  being  inconspicuous."  Nor 
is  there  any  close  relation  between  a  well-pronounced  dif- 
ference in  color  between  the  two  sexes  and  the  nature  of 
the  nest  constructed.  Thus  the  male  house-sparrow 
{Passer  domesticus)  differs  much  from  the  female,  the 
male  tree-sparrow  (  P.  montmms)  differs  hardly  at  all,  and 
yet  both  build  well-concealed  nests.  The  two  sexes  of  the 
common  fly-catcher  (Muscicapa  grisola)  can  hardly  be 
distinguished,  while  the  sexes  of  the  ])icd  fly-catcher 
{M.  luctNosa)  differ  considerably,  and  both  build  in  holes. 
The  female  blackbird  [Turdus  mernla)  differs  much,  the 
fcmate  ring-ouzel  {T.  torqtiatvs)  differs  less,  and  the  female 
common  thrush  {T.  irmsiciis)  hardly  at  all,  from  their  re- 
8j)ective  males ;  yet  all  build  open  nests.  On  the  other 
hand,  the   not  very  distantly-allied  water-ouzel  {Cinclus 

"  I  have  consulted,  on  this  subject,  Macgillivray's  '  British  Birds,' 
and  though  doubts  may  be  entertained  in  some  cases  in  regard  to  the 
degree  of  conceahuent  ot'  the  nest,  and  of  the  degree  of  conspicuousness 
of  the  female,  yet  the  following  birds,  which  all  lay  their  eggs  in  holes  or 
in  domed  nests,  can  hardly  be  considered,  according  to  the  above  stand- 
ard, as  conspicuous :  Passer,  2  species ;  Sturaus,  of  which  the  female  is 
considerably  less  brilliant  than  the  male ;  Cinclus;  Motacilla  boarula(?): 
Erithacus  (V) ;  Fruticola,  2  sp. ;  Saxicola  ;  Ruticilla,  2  sp. ;  Sylvia,  8  sp. ; 
Parus,  3  sp. ;  Mecistura;  Anorthura;  Certhia;  Sitta;  Yunx ;  Muscicapa, 
2  sp. ;  Hirundo,  3  sp. ;  and  Cypselus.  The  females  of  the  following  1 2 
birds  may  be  considered  as  conspicuous  according  to  the  same  standard, 
viz..  Pastor,  Motacilla  alba,  Parus  major  and  P.  cicrulcus,  Upupa,  Picus, 
4  sj).,  Coracias,  Alcedo,  and  Merops. 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND   NIDIFICATION.  163 

aquaticus)  builds  a  domed  nest,  and  the  sexes  diifer  about 
as  much  as  in  the  case  of  the  ring-ouzel.  The  black  and 
red  grouse  {Tetrao  tetrix  and  T.  Scoticus)  build  open 
nests,  in  equally  well-concealed  spots,  but  in  the  one  spe- 
cies the  sexes  diifer  greatly,  and  in  the  other  very  little. 

Notwithstanding  the  foregoing  objections,  I  cannot 
doubt,  after  reading  Mr.  Wallace's  excellent  essay,  that, 
looking  to  the  birds  of  the  world,  a  large  majority  of  the 
species  in  which  the  females  are  conspicuously  colored 
(and  in  this  case  the  males  with  rare  exceptions  are  equal- 
ly conspicuous)  build  concealed  nests  for  the  sake  of  pro- 
tection, Mr.  Wallace  enumerates  "  a  long  series  of  grouj^s 
in  which  this  rule  holds  good ;  but  it  will  suffice  here  to 
give,  as  instances,  the  more  familiar  groups  of  kingfishers, 
toucans,  trogons,  puff-birds  (Capitonidse),  plantain-eaters 
(Musophagfe),  woodpeckers,  and  parrots.  Mr.  Wallace 
believes  that  in  these  groups,  as  the  males  gi-adually  ac- 
quired through  sexual  selection  their  brilliant  colors,  these 
were  transferred  to  the  females  and  were  not  eliminated 
by  natural  selection,  owing  to  the  protection  which  they 
already  enjoyed  from  their  manner  of  nidification.  Ac- 
cording to  this  view,  their  present  manner  of  nesting  was 
acquired  before  their  present  colors.  But  it  seems  to  me 
much  more  probable  that,  in  most  cases,  as  the  females 
were  gradually  rendered  more  and  more  brilliant  from 
partaking  of  the  colors  of  the  male,  they  were  gradually 
led  to  change  theii*  instincts  (supposing  that  they  origi- 
nally built  open  nests),  and  to  seek  protection  by  building 
domed  or  concealed  nests.  No  one,  who  studies,  for  in- 
stance, Audubon's  account  of  the  differences  in  the  nests 
of  the  same  species  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  United 
States,"  will  feel  any  great  difficulty  in  admitting  that 
birds,  either  by  a  change  (in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word) 

1^  '  Journal  of  Travel,'  edited  by  A.  Murray,  vol.  i.  p.  78. 

^^  See  many  statements  in  the  '  Ornithological  Biography.'     See,  also, 


164  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Part  XL 

of  their  habits,  or  through  the  natural  selection  of  so- 
called  spontaneous  variations  of  instinct,  might  readily  be 
led  to  modify  their  manner  of  nesting. 

Tliis  way  of  viewing  the  relation,  as  far  as  it  holds 
good,  between  the  bright  colors  of  female  birds  and  their 
manner  of  nesting,  receives  some  support  from  certain 
analogous  cases  occurring  in  the  Sahara  Desert.  Here,  as 
in  most  other  deserts,  various  birds,  and  many  other  ani- 
mals, have  had  their  colors  adapted  in  a  wonderful  man- 
ner to  the  tints  of  the  surrounding  surface.  Nevertheless 
there  are,  as  I  am  informed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ti-istram, 
some  curious  exceptions  to  the  rule  ;  thus  the  male  of  the 
Monticola  cyanea  is  conspicuous  from  his  bright-blue  col- 
or, and  the  female  almost  equally  consjjicuous  from  her 
mottled  brown  and  white  plumage;  both  sexes  of  two 
species  of  Dromoltea  are  of  a  lustrous  black ;  so  that  these 
three  birds  are  far  from  receiving  protection  from  their 
colors,  yet  they  are  able  to  survive,  for  tliey  have  acquired 
the  habit,  when  in  danger,  of  taking  refuge  in  holes  or 
crevices  in  the  rocks. 

With  respect  to  the  above-specified  groups  of  birds, 
in  which  the  females  are  conspicuously  colored  and  build 
concealed  nests,  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  each 
separate  species  had  its  nidifying  instinct  specially  modi- 
fied ;  but  only  that  tlie  early  progenitors  of  each  group 
were  gradually  led  to  build  domed  or  concealed  nests ; 
and  afterward  transmitted  this  instinct,  together  with 
their  bright  colors,  to  their  modified  descendants.  This 
conclusion,  as  far  as  it  can  be  trusted,  is  interesting, 
namely,  that  sexual  selection,  together  with  equal  or 
nearly  equal  inheritance  by  both  sexes,  has  indirectly 
determined  the  manner  of  nidification  of  whole  groups  of 
birds. 

some  curious  observations  on  the  nests  of  Italian  Birds  by  Engenio  Bet- 
toni,  in  the  '  Atti  della  Society  Italiana,'  vol.  xi.  1869,  p.  487. 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND   NIDIFICATION.  165 

Even  in  the  groups  in  which,  according  to  Mr.  Wal- 
lace, the  females,  from  being  protected  during  nidification, 
have  not  had  their  hright  colors  eliminated  through  natu- 
ral selection,  the  males  often  differ  in  a  slight,  and  occa- 
sionally in  a  considerable  degree,  from  the  females.  This 
is  a  significant  fact,  for  such  differences  in  color  must  be 
accounted  for  on  the  principle  of  some  of  the  variations 
in  the  males  having  been  from  the  first  limited  in  their 
transmission  to  the  same  sex ;  as  it  can  hardly  be  main- 
tained that  these  differences,  especially  when  very  slight, 
serve  as  a  protection  to  the  female.  Thus  all  the  species 
in  the  splendid  group  of  the  Trogous  build  in  holes  ;  and 
Mr.  Gould  givesfigures  ^^  of  both  sexes  of  twenty-five  spe- 
cies, in  all  of  which,  with  one  partial  exception,  the  sexes 
differ  sometimes  slightly,  sometimes  conspicuously  in  col- 
or— the  males  being  always  more  beautiful  than  the 
females,  though  the  latter  are  likewise  beautiful.  All  the 
species  of  kingfisher  build  in  holes,  and  with  most  of  the 
species  the  sexes  are  equally  brilliant,  and  thus  far  Mr, 
Wallace's  rule  holds  good ;  but  in  some  of  the  Australian 
species  the  colors  of  the  females  are  rather  less  vivid  than 
those  of  the  male  ;  and,  in  one  splendidly-colored  species, 
the  sexes  differ  so  much  that  they  were  at  first  thought  to 
be  specifically  distinct.^*  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe,  who  has  es- 
pecially studied  this  group,  has  shown  me  some  American 
species  (Ceryle)  in  which  the  breast  of  the  male  is  belted 
with  black.  Again,  in  Carcineutes,  the  difference  between 
the  sexes  is  conspicuous :  in  the  male  the  upper  surface  is 
dull-blue  banded  with  black,  the  lower  surface  being  part- 
ly fawn-colored,  and  there  is  much  red  about  the  head  ;  in 
the  female  the  upper  surface  is  reddish-brown  banded 
with   black,   and   the   loAver    surface   white    with   black 

5"  See  his  '  Monograph  of  the  Trogonidae,'  first  edition. 
^'  Namely  Cyanalcyon.     Gould's  '  Hand-book  of  the  Birds  of  Austra- 
lia,' vol.  i.  p.  133;  see,  also,  pp.  130,  136. 


166  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

markings.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  as  showing  how  the 
same  peculiar  style  of  sexual  coloring  often  characterizes 
allied  forms,  that  in  three  species  of  Dacelo  the  male  dif- 
fers from  the  female  only  in  the  tail  heing  dull-l>lue 
banded  with  black,  while  that  of  the  female  is  brown  with 
blackish  bars ;  so  that  here  the  tail  differs  in  color  in  the 
two  sexes  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  the  whole  upper 
surface  in  the  sexes  of  Carcineutcs. 

With  parrots,  which  likewise  build  in  holes,  we  find 
analogous  cases :  in  most  of  the  species  both  sexes  are 
brilliantly  colored  and  undistinguisliable,  but  in  not  a  few 
species  the  males  are  colored  rather  more  vividly  than  the 
females,  or  even  very  differently  from  them.  Thus,  be- 
sides other  strongly-marked  differences,  the  whole  under 
surface  of  tlie  male  King  Lory  [Apros/nlctus  scapulatus),  is 
scarlet,  while  the  throat  and  chest  of  the  female  are  green 
tinged  with  red:  in  the  Eupheyna  splendida  there  is  a 
similar  difference,  the  face  and  wing-coverts,  moreover,  of 
the  female  being  of  a  paler  blue  than  in  the  male."'  In 
the  family  of  the  Tits  {ParinoB)^  which  build  concealed 
nests,  the  female  of  our  common  blue  tomtit  [Parus  cmru- 
leus)  is  "  much  less  brightly  colored  "  than  the  male ;  and 
in  the  magnificent  Sultan  yellow  tit  of  India  the  differ- 
ence is  greater." 

Again,  in  the  great  group  of  the  woodpeckers,"*  the 
sexes  are  generally  nearly  alike,  but  in  the  Megapicus 
validus  all  those  parts  of  the  head,  neck,  and  breast, 
which  are  crimson  in  the  male  are  pale  brown  in  the  fe- 

'*  Every  gradation  of  difference  between  the  sexes  may  be  followed  in 
the  parrots  of  Australia.  See  Gould's  'Hand-book,'  etc.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  14- 
102. 

"  Macgillivray's  '  British  Birds,'  vol.  ii.  p.  433.  Jerdon,.  '  Birds  of 
India,'  vol.  ii.  p.  282. 

**  All  the  following  facts  are  taken  from  51.  Malherbe's  magnificent 
'  Monographic  des  Picid6es,'  1861. 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND    NIDIFICATION.  167 

male.  As  in  several  woodpeckers  the  head  of  the  male  is 
bright  crimson,  while  that  of  the  female  is  plain,  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  this  color  might  possibly  make  the 
female  dangerously  conspicuous,  whenever  she  put  her 
head  out  of  the  hole  containing  her  nest,  and  consequent- 
ly that  this  color,  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Wallace's  belief, 
had  been  eliminated.  This  view  is  strengthened  by  what 
Malherbe  states  with  respect  to  Indopicus  carlotta ; 
namely,  that  the  young  females,  like  the  young  males, 
have  some  crimson  about  their  heads,  but  that  this  color 
disappears  in  the  adult  female,  while  it  is  intensified  in 
the  adult  male.  Nevertheless,  the  following  considera- 
tions render  this  view  extremely  doubtful :  the  male  takes 
a  fiiir  share  in  incubation,^*  and  would  be  thus  far  almost 
equally  exposed  to  danger;  both  sexes  of  many  species 
have  their  heads  of  an  equally  bright  crimson ;  in  other 
species  the  difierence  between  the  sexes  in  the  amount  of 
scarlet  is  so  slight  that  it  can  hardly  make  any  appre- 
ciable difference  in  the  danger  incurred ;  and,  lastly,  the 
coloring  of  the  head  in  the  two  sexes  often  differs  slightly 
in  other  ways. 

The  cases,  as  yet  given,  of  slight  and  graduated  differ- 
ences in  color  between  the  males  and  females  in  the 
groups,  in  which  as  a  general  rule  the  sexes  resemble  each 
other,  all  relate  to  species  which  build  domed  or  concealed 
nests.  But  similar  gradations  may  likewise  be  observed 
in  groups  in  which  the  sexes  as  a  general  rule  resemble 
each  other,  but  which  build  open  nests.  As  I  have  before 
instanced  the  Australian  parrots,  so  I  may  here  instance, 
without  giving  any  details,  the  Australian  pigeons.''*  It 
deseiwes  especial  notice  that  in  all  these  cases  the  slight 
differences  in  plumage  between  the  sexes  are  of  the  same 

^^  Audubon's  '  Ornithological  Biography,'  vol.  ii.  p.  '75 ;  see  also  the 
'Ibis,' vol.  I  p.  268. 

^^  Gould's  'Hand-book  of  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  109-149. 


168  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

general  nature  as  the  oceasionally  greater  difFerences.  A 
good  illustration  of  this  fact  has  already  been  afforded  by 
those  kingfisliers  in  which  either  the  tail  alone  or  the 
whole  upjier  surface  of  the  plumage  differs  in  the  same 
manner  in  the  two  sexes.  Similar  cases  may  be  observed 
with  parrots  and  pigeons.  The  differences  in  color  be- 
tween the  sexes  of  the  same  species  are,  also,  of  the  same 
general  nature  as  the  differences  in  color  between  the  dis- 
tinct species  of  the  same  group.  For,  when,  in  a  group  in 
which  the  sexes  are  usually  alike,  the  male  diffbrs  consid- 
erably from  the  female,  he  is  not  colored  in  a  quite  rrtw 
style.  Hence  we  may  infer  that,  within  the  same  group, 
the  special  colors  of  both  sexes,  when  they  are  alike,  and 
the  colors  of  the  male,  when  he  differs  slightly  or  even 
considerably  from  the  female,  have  in  most  cases  been 
determined  by  the  same  general  cause  ;  this  being  sexual 
selection. 

It  is  not  probable,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  that 
differences  in  color  between  the  sexes,  when  very  slight, 
can  be  of  service  to  the  female  as  a  protection.  Assum- 
ing, however,  that  they  are  of  service,  they  might  be 
thought  to  be  cases  of  transition ;  but  we  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  many  species  at  any  one  time  are  under- 
going change.  Therefore,  we  can  hardly  admit  that  the 
numerous  females  which  differ  very  slightly  in  color  from 
their  males  are  now  all  commencing  to  become  obscure 
for  the  sake  of  protection.  Even  if  we  consider  somewhat 
more  marked  sexual  differences,  is  it  probable,  for  in- 
stance, that  the  head  of  the  female  chaffinch,  the  crimson 
on  the  breast  of  the  female  bullfinch,  the  green  of  the 
female  greenfinch,  the  crest  of  the  female  golden-crested 
wren,  have  all  been  rendered  less  bright  by  the  slow  pro- 
cess of  selection  for  the  sake  of  protection  ?  I  cannot 
think  so;  and  still  less  Avith  the  slight  differences  between 
the  sexes  of  those  birds  which  build  concealed  nests.     On 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND   NIDIFICATION.  169 

the  other  hand,  the  differences  in  color  between  the  sexes, 
whether  great  or  small,  may  to  a  large  extent  be  ex- 
plained on  the  principle  of  the  successive  variations, 
acquired  by  the  males  through  sexual  selection,  having 
been  from  the  first  more  or  less  limited  in  their  transmis- 
sion to  the  females.  That  the  degree  of  limitation  should 
differ  in  different  species  of  the  same  group  will  not  sur- 
prise any  one  who  has  studied  the  laws  of  inheritance,  for 
they  are  so  complex  that  they  appear  to  us  in  our  igno- 
rance to  be  capricious  in  their  action." 

As  far  as  I  can  discover,  there  are  very  few  groups 
of  birds,  containing  a  considerable  number  of  species,  in 
which  all  have  both  sexes  brilliantly  colored  and  alike ; 
but  this  appears  to  be  the  case,  as  I  hear  from  Mr.  Sclater, 
with  the  Musophagae  or  plantain-eaters.  Nor  do  I  be- 
lieve that  any  large  group  exists  in  which  the  sexes  of  all 
the  species  are  widely  dissimilar  in  color :  Mr.  Wallace 
informs  me  that  the  chatterers  of  South  America  {Cotin- 
gidm)  offer  one  of  the  best  instances  ;  but  with  some  of 
the  species,  in  which  the  male  has  a  splendid  red  breast, 
the  female  exhibits  some  red  on  her  breast ;  and  the  fe- 
males of  other  species  show  traces  of  the  gi*een  and  other 
colors  of  the  males.  Nevertheless,  we  have  a  near  ap- 
proach to  close  sexual  similarity  or  dissimilarity  tbrougli- 
out  several  groups :  and  this,  from  what  has  just  been 
said  of  the  fluctuating  nature  of  inheritance,  is  a  some- 
what surprising  circumstance.  But  that  the  same  laws 
should  largely  prevail  with  allied  animals  is  not  surpris- 
ing. The  domestic  fowl  has  produced  a  great  number  of 
breeds  and  sub-breeds,  and  in  these  the  sexes  generally 
differ  in  plumage ;  so  that  it  has  been  noticed  as  a  re- 
markable circumstance  when  in  certain  sub-breeds  they 
resemble  each  other.     On  the  other  hand,  the  domestic 

^^  See  remarks  to  this  efiFect  in  my  work  on  '  Variation  under  Domes- 
tication,' vol.  ii.  chap.  xii. 

27 


170  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

pigeon  has  likewise  produced  a  vast  number  of  distinct 
breeds  and  sub-breeds,  and  in  these,  with  rare  exceptions, 
the  two  sexes  are  identically  alike.  Therefore,  if  other 
species  of  Gallus  and  Columba  were  domesticated  and  va- 
ried, it  would  not  be  rash  to  predict  that  the  same  general 
rules  of  sexual  similarity  and  dissimilarity,  depending  on 
the  form  of  transmission,  would,  in  both  cases,  hold  good. 
In  a  similar  manner  the  same  form  of  transmission  has 
generally  prevailed  throughout  the  same  natural  groups, 
although  marked  exceptions  to  this  rule  occur.  Within 
the  same  family,  or  even  genus,  the  sexes  may  be  identi- 
cally alike  or  very  diiferent  in  color.  Instances  have 
already  been  given  relating  to  the  same  genus,  as  with 
sparrows,  fly-catchers,  thrushes,  and  grouse.  In  the  fam- 
ily of  pheasants  the  males  and  females  of  abnost  all  the 
species  are  wonderfully  dissimilar,  but  are  quite  similar 
in  the  eared  pheasant  or  Crossojytilon  auritum.  In  two 
species  of  Chloehaga,  a  genus  of  geese,  the  males  cannot 
be  distinguished  from  the  females,  except  by  size  ;  while  in 
two  others  the  sexes  are  so  unlike  that  they  might  easily 
be  mistaken  for  distinct  species." 

The  laws  of  inheritance  can  alone  account  for  the  fol- 
lowing cases,  in  which  the  female,  by  acquiring  at  a  late 
period  of  life  certain  characters  proper  to  the  male,  ulti- 
mately comes  to  resemble  him  in  a  more  or  less  complete 
manner.  Here  protection  can  hardly  have  come  int6  play. 
Mr.  Blyth  informs  me  tliat  the  females  of  Oriolus  melan- 
ocephahis  and  of  some  allied  species,  when  sufficiently 
mature  to  breed,  differ  considei'ably  in  plumage  from  the 
adult  males ;  but  after  the  second  or  third  moults  they 
differ  only  in  their  beaks  having  a  slight  greenish  tinge. 
In  the  dwarf  bitterns  (Ardetta),  according  to  the  same 
authority,  "  the  male  acquires  his  final  livery  at  the  first 
moult,  the  female  not  before  the  third  or  fourth  moult;  in 
^»  The  'Ibis,'  vol.  vi.  1864,  p.  122. 


Chap.  XV.]  COLOR  AND   NIDIFICATION.  171 

the  mean  while  she  presents  an  intermediate  garb,  which 
is  ultimately  exchanged  for  the  same  livery  as  that  of  the 
male."  So,  again,  the  female  Falco  peregrinus  acquires 
her  blue  plumage  more  slowly  than  the  male.  Mr,  Swin- 
hoe  states  that,  with  one  of  the  Drongo  shrikes  (Dicnirtis 
macroeercus),  the  male,  while  almost  a  nestling,  moults  his 
soft  brown  plumage  and  becomes  of  a  uniform  glossy 
greenish-black ;  but  the  female  retains  for  a  long  time  the 
white  strise  and  spots  on  the  axillary  feathers,  and  does 
not  completely  assume  the  uniform  black  color  of  the 
male  for  the  first  three  years.  The  same  excellent  ob- 
server remarks  that  in  the  spring  of  the  second  year  the 
female  spoonbill  (Platalea)  of  China  resembles  the  male 
of  the  first  year,  and  that  apparently  it  is  not  until  the 
third  spring  that  she  acquires  the  same  adult  plumage  as 
that  possessed  by  the  male  at  a  much  earlier  age.  The 
female  JBomhycilla  Carolinensis  diifers  very  little  from  the 
male,  but  the  appendages,  which  like  beads  of  red  sealing- 
wax  ornament  the  wing-feathers,  are  not  developed  in 
her  so  early  in  life  as  in  the  male.  The  upper  mandible 
in  the  male  of  an  Indian  parrakeet  {JPalceornis  Javanicus) 
is  coral-red  from  his  earliest  youth,  but  in  the  female,  as 
Mr.  Blyth  has  observed  with  caged  and  wild  birds,  it  is  at 
first  black  and  does  not  become  red  until  the  bird  is  at 
least  a  year  old,  at  which  age  the  sexes  resemble  each 
other  in  all  respects.  Both  sexes  of  the  wild-turkey  are 
ultimately  furnished  with  a  tuft  of  bristles  on  the  breast, 
but  in  two-year-old  birds  the  tuft  is  about  four  inches  long 
in  the  male  and  hardly  apparent  in  the  female ;  when, 
however,  the  latter  has  reached  her  fourth  year,  it  is  from 
four  to  five  inches  in  length.''* 

^'  On  Ardetta,  Translation  of  Cuvier's  '  Regne  Animal,'  by  Mr.  Blytb, 
foot-note,  p.  159.  On  the  Peregrine  Falcon,  Mr.  Blyth,  in  Charlesworth's 
'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  i.  IBS'/,  p.  304.  On  Dicrurus,  'Ibis,'  1863,  p. 
44.     On  the  Platalea,  'Ibis,'  vol.  vi.  1864,  p.  366.     On  the  Bombyeilla, 


172  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

In  these  cases,  the  females  follow  a  normal  course  of 
development  in  ultimately  becoming  like  the  males  ;  and 
sufh  cases  must  not  be  confounded  with  those  in  which 
diseased  or  old  females  assume  masculine  characters,  or 
with  those  in  which  perfectly  fertile  females,  while  young, 
acquire,  through  variation  or  some  unknown  cause,  the 
characters  of  the  male.'"  But  all  these  cases  have  so  much 
in  common  that  they  depend,  according  to  the  hypothesis 
of  pangenesis,  on  gemmules  derived  from  each  part  of  the 
male  being  present,  though  latent,  in  the  female ;  their 
development  following  on  some  slight  change  in  the  elec- 
tive affinities  of  her  constituent  tissues. 

A  few  words  must  be  added  on  changes  of  plumage  in 
relation  to  the  season  of  the  year.  Fi-om  reasons  formerly 
assigned  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  elegant  plumes, 
long  pendant  feathers,  crests,  etc.,  of  egrets,  herons,  and 
many  other  birds,  which  are  developed  and  retained  only 
during  the  summer,  serve  exclusively  for  ornamental  or 
nuj^tial  purposes,  though  common  to  both  sexes.  The  fe- 
male is  thus  rendered  more  conspicuous  during  the  period 
of  incubation  than  during  the  winter  ;  but  such  birds  as 
herons  and  egrets  would  be  able  to  defend  themselves. 
As,  however,  plumes  would  probably  be  inconvenient  and 
certainly  of  no  use  during  the  winter,  it  is  possible  that 
the  habit  of  moulting  tAvice  in  the  year  may  have  been 
gradually  acquired  through  natural  selection  for  the  sake 
of  casting  oflf  inconvenient  oi'naments  during  the  winter. 

Audubon's  '  Omitholog.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  229.  On  the  Palaeomis, 
see,  also,  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  p.  263.  On  the  wild-turkey, 
Audubon,  ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  15  :  I  hear  from  Judge  Caton  that  in  Illinois  the 
female  very  rarely  acquires  a  tuft. 

^  Mr.  Blyth  has  recorded  (Translation  of  Cuvier's  '  R6gne  Animal,'  p. 
158)  various  instances  with  Lanius,  Rutieilla,  Linaria,  and  Anas.  Audu- 
bon has  also  recorded  a  similar  case  ('Ornith.  Biog.'  vol.  v.  p.  KIO)  with 
Ti/ranga  wstiva. 


Chap.  XV.]  SUMMER  PLUMAGE.  I73 

But  this  view  cannot  be  extended  to  the  many  waders, 
in  which  the  summer  and  winter  phimages  differ  very 
little  in  color.  With  defenceless  species,  in  which  either 
both  sexes  or  the  males  alone  become  extremely  conspicu- 
ous during  the  breeding-season — or  when  the  males  ac- 
quire at  this  season  such  long  wing  or  tail  feathers  as  to 
impede  their  flight,  as  with  Cosmetornis  and  Vidua — ^it 
certainly  at  first  appears  highly  probable  that  the  second 
moult  has  been  gained  for  the  special  purpose  of  throwing 
off  these  ornaments.  We  must,  however,  remember  that 
many  birds,  such  as  Birds  of  Paradise,  the  Argus  pheasant, 
and  peacock,  do  not  cast  their  plumes  during  the  winter ; 
and  it  can  hardly  be  maintained  that  there  is  something 
in  the  constitution  of  these  birds,  at  least  of  the  Gallina- 
ceae,  rendering  a  double  moult  impossible,  for  the  ptarmi- 
gan moults  thrice  in  the  year."  Hence  it  must  be  con- 
sidered as  doubtful  whether  the  many  species  which  moult 
their  ornamental  plumes,  or  lose  their  bright  colors,  during 
the  winter,  have  acquired  this  habit  on  account  of  the  in- 
convenience or  danger  which  they  would  otherwise  have 
suffered. 

I  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  habit  of  moulting  twice 
in  the  year  was  in  most  or  all  cases  first  acquired  for  some 
distinct  purpose,  perhaps  for  gaining  a  warmer  winter  cov- 
ering; and  that  variations  in  the  plumage  occurring 
during  the  summer  were  accumulated  thi-ough  sexual  se- 
lection, and  transmitted  to  the  offspring  at  the  same  season 
of  the  year ;  such  variations  being  inherited  either  by  both 
sexes  or  by  the  males  alone,  according  to  the  form  of  in- 
heritance which  prevailed.  This  appears  more  probable 
than  that  these  species  in  all  cases  originally  tended  to 
retain  their  ornamental  plumage  during  the  winter,  but 
were  saved  from  this  through  natural  selection,  owing  to 
the  inconvenience  or  danger  thus  caused. 

31  See  Gould's  '  Birds  of  Great  Britain.' 


174  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

I  have  endeavored  in  this  chapter  to  show  that  the 
arguments  are  not  trustworthy  in  favor  of  the  view  that 
weapons,  bright  colors,  and  various  ornaments,  are  now 
confined  to  the  males  owing  to  the  conversion,  by  means 
of  natural  selection,  of  a  tendency  to  the  equal  transmis- 
sion of  characters  to  both  sexes  into  transmission  to  the 
male  sex  alone.  It  is  also  doubtful  whether  the  colors  of 
many  female  birds  are  due  to  the  preservation,  for  the  sake 
of  protection,  of  variations  which  were  from  the  first  limit- 
ed in  their  transmission  to  the  female  sex.  But  it  will  be 
convenient  to  defer  any  further  discussion  on  this  subject 
until  I  treat,  in  the  following  chapter,  on  the  ditiereuces  in 
plumage  between  the  young  and  old. 


Chap.  XVI.]        INHERITANCE,  LIMITED  BY  AGE.  175 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Birds — concluded. 

The  Immature  Plumage  in  Eelation  to  the  Character  of  the  Humage  in 
both  Sexes  when  Adult. — Six  Classes  of  Cases. — Sexual  Differences 
between  the  Males  of  Closely-allied  or  Eepresentative  Species. — The 
Female  assuming  the  Characters  of  the  Male. — Plumage  of  the  Young 
in  Eelation  to  the  Summer  and  Winter  Plumage  of  the  Adults. — On 
the  Increase  of  Beauty  in  the  Birds  of  the  World. — Protective  Color- 
ing.— Conspicuously-colored  Birds. — Novelty  appreciated. — Summary 
of  the  Pour  Chapters  on  Birds. 

We  must  now  consider  the  transmission  of  characters 
as  limited  by  age  in  reference  to  sexual  selection.  The 
truth  and  importance  of  the  principle  of  inheritance  at 
corresponding  ages  need  not  here  be  discussed,  as  enough 
has  already  been  said  on  the  subject.  Before  giving  the 
several  rather  complex  rules  or  classes  of  cases,  under 
which  all  the  differences  in  plumage  between  the  young 
and  the  old,  as  far  as  known  to  me,  may  be  included,  it 
will  be  well  to  make  a  few  preliminary  remarks. 

With  animals  of  all  kinds,  when  the  young  differ  in 
color  from  the  adults,  and  the  colors  of  the  former  are 
not,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  of  any  special  service,  they  may 
generally  be  attributed,  like  various  embryological  struct- 
ures, to  the  retention  by  the  young  of  the  character  of  an 
early  progenitor.  But  this  view  can  be  maintained  with 
confidence  only  when  the  young  of  several  species  closely 
resemble  each  other,  and  likewise  resemble  other  adiilt 
species  belonging  to  the  same  group ;  for  the  latter  are 
the  living  proofs  that  such  a  state  of  things  was  formerly 


176  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

possible.  Young  lions  and  pumas  are  marked  with  feeble 
stripes  or  rows  of  spots,  and,  as  many  allied  species  both 
young  and  old  are  similarly  marked,  no  naturalist,  who 
believes  in  the  gradual  evolution  of  species,  will  doubt 
that  the  progenitor  of  tlie  lion  and  puma  was  a  striped 
animal,  the  young  having  retained  vestiges  of  the  stripes, 
like  the  kittens  of  black  cats,  which  when  grown  up  are 
not  in  the  least  striped.  Many  species  of  deer,  which 
when  mature  are  not  spotted,  are  while  young  covered 
with  white  spots,  as  are  likewise  some  few  species  in  their 
adult  state.  So,  again,  tlie  young  in  the  whole  family 
of  pigs  (Suidiie),  and  in  certain  rather  distantly-allied  ani- 
mals, such  as  the  tapir,  are  marked  with  dark  longitudinal 
stripes  ;  but  here  we  have  a  character  apparently  derived 
from  an  extinct  progenitor,  and  now  preserved  by  the 
young  alone.  In  all  such  cases  the  old  have  had  their 
colors  changed  in  the  course  of  time,  while  the  young 
have  remained  but  little  altered,  and  this  has  been  effect- 
ed through  the  principle  of  inheritance  at  corresponding 
ages. 

This  same  principle  applies  to  many  birds  belonging 
to  various  groups,  in  which  the  young  closely  resemble 
each  other,  and  differ  much  from  their  respective  adult 
parents.  The  young  of  almost  all  the  Gallinacese,  and  of 
some  distftntly-allied  bii'ds  such  as  ostriches,  are,  while 
covered  with  down,  longitudinally  striped ;  but  this  charac- 
ter points  back  to  a  state  of  things  so  remote  that  it  hard- 
ly concerns  us.  Young  cross-bills  (Loxia)  have  at  first 
straight  beaks  like  those  of  other  finches,  and  in  their  im- 
mature striated  plumage  they  resemble  the  mature  redpole 
and  female  siskin,  as  well  as  the  young  of  the  goldfinch, 
greenfinch,  and  some  other  allied  species.  The  young  of 
many  kinds  of  buntings  (Emberiza)  resemble  each  other, 
and  likewise  the  adult  state  of  the  connnon  bunting,  IJ. 
miliaria.     In  almost  the  wliole  large  group  of  thrushes 


Chap.  XVI.]        INHERITANCE,   LIMITED  BY   AGE.  177 

the  young  have  their  breasts  spotted — a  character  which 
is  retained  by  many  species  throughout  life,  but  is  quite 
lost  by  others,  as  by  the  Tiirdus  migratorius.  So,  again, 
with  many  thrushes,  the  feathers  on  the  back  are  mottled 
before  they  are  moulted  for  the  first  time,  and  this  charac- 
ter is  retained  for  life  by  certain  Eastern  species.  The 
young  of  many  species  of  shrikes  (Lanius),  of  some  wood- 
peckers, and  of  an  Indian  pigeon  {Chalcophaps  Indicus), 
are  transversely  striped  on  the  under  surface ;  and  certain 
allied  species  or  genera  when  adult  are  similarly  marked. 
In  some  closely-allied  and  resplendent  Indian  cuckoos 
(Chrysococcyx),  the  species  when  mature  differ  consider- 
ably from  each  other  in  color,  but  the  young  cannot  be 
distinguished.  The  young  of  an  Indian  goose  {Sarkidior- 
nis  melanonotus)  closely  resemble  in  plumage  an  allied 
genus,  Dendrocygna,  when  mature.'  Similar  facts  will 
hereafter  be  given  in  regard  to  certain  herons.  Young 
black  grouse  {Tetrao  tetrix)  resemble  the  young  as  well  as 
the  old  of  certain  other  species,  for  instance,  the  red  grouse 
or  T.  Scoticus.  Finally,  as  Mr.  Blytb,  who  has  attended 
closely  to  this  subject,  has  well  remarked,  the  natural 
affinities  of  many  species  are  best  exhibited  in  their  im- 
mature plumage  ;  and,  as  the  true  affinities  of  all  organic 
beings  depend  on  their  descent  from  a  common  progenitor, 
this  remark  strongly  confirms  the  belief  that  the  immature 
plumage  approximately  shows  us  the  former  or  ancestral 
condition  of  the  species. 

Although  many  young  birds  belonging  to  various  or- 

1  In  regard  to  thrushes,  shrikes,  and  woodpeckers,  see  Mr.  Blyth,  in 
Charlesworth's  'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  i.  1837,  p.  304;  also  foot-note  to 
his  translation  of  Cuvier's  'R^gne  Animal,'  p.  159.  I  give  the  case  of 
Loxia  from  Mr.  Blyth's  information.  On  thrushes,  see,  also,  Audubon, 
'  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  ii.  p.  195.  On  Chrysococcyx  and  Chalcophaps, 
Blyth,  as  quoted  in  Jerdon's  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  485.  On  Sar- 
kidiornis,  Blyth,  in  'Ibis,'  ISO'J,  p.  1*75. 


178  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Paut  IL 

ders  thus  give  us  a  glimpse  of  the  plumage  of  their  remote 
progenitors,  yet  they  are  many  other  birds,  both  dull- 
colored  and  bright-colored,  in  which  the  young  closely  re- 
seniblc  tlieir  parents.  With  such  species  the  young  of  the 
different  species  cannot  resemble  each  other  more  closely 
than  do  the  parents ;  nor  can  they  present  striking  resem- 
blances to  allied  forms  in  their  adult  state.  They  give  us 
but  little  insight  into  the  plumage  of  their  progenitors,  ex- 
cepting in  so  far  that,  when  the  young  and  the  old  are 
colored  in  the  same  general  manner  throughout  a  whole 
group  of  species,  it  is  probable  that  their  progenitors  were 
similarly  colored. 

We  may  now  consider  the  classes  of  cases  or  rules 
under  which  the  differences  and  resemblances,  between  the 
plumage  of  the  young  and  the  old,  of  both  sexes  or  of  one 
sex  alone,  may  be  grouped.  Rules  of  this  kind  were  first 
enounced  by  Cuvier ;  but  with  the  progress  of  knowledge 
they  require  some  modification  and  amplification.  This  I 
have  attempted  to  do,  as  far  as  the  extreme  complexity 
of  the  subject  permits,  from  information  derived  from 
various  sources ;  but  a  full  essay  on  this  subject  by  some 
competent  ornithologist  is  much  needed.  In  order  to 
ascertain  to  Avhat  extent  each  rule  prevails,  I  have  tabu- 
lated the  facts  given  in  four  great  works,  namely,  INIacgilli- 
vray  on  the  birds  of  Britain,  Audubon  on  tliose  of  North 
America,  Jerdon  on  those  of  India,  and  Gould  on  those 
of  Australia.  I  may  here  premise,  firstly,  that  the  several 
cases  or  rules  graduate  into  each  other ;  and,  secondly, 
that,  when  the  young  are  said  to  resemble  their  parents,  it 
is  not  meant  that  they  are  identically  alike,  for  their 
colors  are  almost  always  rather  less  vivid,  and  the  feathers 
are  softer  and  often  of  a  different  shape. 


Chap.  XVI.]  CLASSES  OF  CASES.  179 

RULES   OR   CLASSES   OF   CASES. 

L  When  the  adult  male  is  more  beautiful  or  conspicu- 
ous than  the  adult  female,  the  young  of  both  sexes  in 
their  first  plumage  closely  resemble  the  adult  female,  as 
with  the  common  fowl  and  peacock ;  or,  as  occasionally 
occurs,  they  resemble  her  much  more  closely  than  they  do 
the  adult  male. 

II.  When  the  adult  female  is  more  conspicuous  than 
the  adult  male,  as  sometimes  though  rarely  occurs,  the 
young  of  both  sexes  in  their  first  plumage  resemble  the 
adult  male. 

III.  When  the  adult  male  resembles  the  adult  female, 
the  young  of  both  sexes  have  a  peculiar  first  plumage  of 
their  own,  as  with  the  robin. 

IV.  When  the  adult  male  resembles  the  adult  female, 
the  young  of  both  sexes  in  their  first  plumage  resemble 
the  adults,  as  with  the  kingfisher,  many  parrots,  crows, 
hedge-warblers. 

Y.  When  the  adults  of  both  sexes  have  a  distinct 
winter  and  summer  plumage,  whether  or  not  the  male 
difiers  from  the  female,  the  young  resemble  the  adults 
of  both  sexes  in  their  winter  dress,  or  much  more  rarely 
in  their  summer  dress,  or  they  resemble  the  females  alone ; 
or  the  young  may  have  an  intermediate  character ;  or, 
again,  they  may  difier  greatly  from  the  adults  in  both 
their  seasonal  plumages. 

YI.  In  some  few  cases  the  young  in  their  first  plumage 
difier  from  each  other  according  to  sex  ;  the  young  males 
resembling  more  or  less  closely  the  adult  males,  and  the 
young  females  more  or  less  closely  the  adult  females. 

Class  L — In  this  class,  the  young  of  both  sexes  re- 
semble, more  or  less  closely,  the  adult  female,  while  the 
adult  male  difiers,  often  in  the  most  conspicuous  manner, 
from  the  adult  female.     Innumerable  instances  in  all  Or- 


180  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

ders  could  be  given ;  it  will  suffice  to  call  to  mind  tlie 
common  pheasant,  duck,  and  house-sparrow.  The  cases 
under  this  class  graduate  into  others.  Thus  the  two  sexes 
when  adult  may  diifer  so  slightly,  and  the  young  so 
slightly  from  the  adults,  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  such 
cases  ought  to  come  under  the  present,  or  under  the  third 
or  fourth  classes.  So,  again,  the  young  of  both  sexes,  in- 
stead of  being  quite  alike,  may  difter  in  a  slight  degree 
from  each  other,  as  in  our  sixth  class.  These  transitional 
cases,  however,  are  few  in  lumibcr,  or  at  least  are  not 
strongly  pronounced,  in  comparison  with  those  which 
come  strictly  under  the  present  class. 

The  force  of  the  present  law  is  well  shown  in  those 
groups,  in  which,  as  a  general  rule,  the  two  sexes  and  the 
young  are  all  alike  ;  for  when  the  male  in  these  groups 
does  diifer  from  the  female,  as  with  certain  parrots,  king- 
fishers, pigeons,  etc.,  the  young  of  both  sexes  resemble 
the  adult  female."  We  see  the  same  fact  exhibited  still 
more  clearly  in  certain  anomalous  cases  ;  thus  the  male 
of  IleUothrlx  auriculata  (one  of  the  humming-birds)  diflers 
conspicuously  from  the  female  in  having  a  splendid  gorget 
and  fine  ear-tufts,  but  the  female  is  remarkable  from  having 
a  much  longer  tail  than  that  of  the  male  ;  now,  the  young 
of  both  sexes  resemble  (with  the  exception  of  the  breast 

*  See,  for  instance,  Mr.  Gould's  account  ('  Hand-book  of  the  Birds  of 
Australia,'  vol.i.  p.  133)  of  Cyanalcyon  (one  of  the  Kingfishers),  in  which, 
however,  the  young  male,  though  resembling  the  adult  female,  is  less 
brilliantly  colored.  In  some  species  of  Dacelo  the  males  have  blue  tails, 
and  the  females  brown  ones  ;  and  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe  informs  me  that  the 
tail  of  the  young  male  of  D.  Gaudichaudi  is  at  first  brown.  Mr.  Gould 
has  described  (ibid.  vol.  ii.  pp.  14,  20,  37)  the  sexes  and  the  young  of 
certain  Black  Cockatoos  and  of  the  King  Lory,  with  which  the  same  rule 
prevails.  Also  Jerdon  ('  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  p.  2G0)  on  tha  Palaornis 
rosa,  in  which  the  young  are  more  like  the  female  than  the  male.  See 
Audubon  ('Omith.  Biograph.'  vol.  ii.  p.  475)  on  the  two  sexes  and  the 
young  of  Columba  passerina. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG   LIKE   THE   ADULT  FEMALES.     181 

being  spotted  with  bronze)  the  adult  female  in  all  respects, 
including  the  length  of  her  tail,  so  that  the  tail  of  the  male 
actually  becomes  shorter  as  he  reaches  maturity,  which  is 
a  most  unusual  circumstance.'  Again,  the  plumage  of 
the  male  goosander  [Mergus  merganser)  is  more  conspicu- 
ously colored,  Avith  the  scapular  and  secondary  wing- 
feathers  much  longer  than  in  the  female,  but  differently 
from  what  occurs,  as  far  as  I  know,  in  any  other  bird ;  the 
crest  of  the  adult  male,  though  broader  than  that  of  the 
female,  is  considerably  shorter,  being  only  a  little  above 
an  inch  in  length ;  the  crest  of  the  female  being  two  and 
a  half  inches  long.  Now,  the  young  of  both  sexes  resemble 
in  all  respects  the  adult  female,  so  that  their  crests  are 
actually  of  greater  length,  though  narrower,  than  in  the 
adult  male.* 

When  the  young  and  the  females  closely  resemble 
each  other  and  both  differ  from  the  male,  the  most  obvious 
conclusion  is  that  the  male  alone  has  been  modified.  Even 
in  the  anomalous  cases  of  the  Heliothrix  and  Mergus,  it 
is  probable  that  originally  both  adult  sexes  were  furnished, 
the  one  species  with  a  much  elongated  tail,  and  the  other 
with  a  much  elongated  crest,  these  charactei'S  having  since 
been  partially  lost  by  the  adult  males  from  some  unex- 
plained cause,  and  transmitted  in  their  diminished  state  to 
their  male  offspring  alone,  when  arrived  at  the  correspond- 
ing age  of  maturity.  The  belief  that  in  the  present  class 
the  male  alone  has  been  modified,  as  far  as  the  differences 
between  the  male  and  the  female,  together  with  her  young, 
are  concerned,  is  strongly  supported  by  some  remarkable 
facts  recorded  by  Mr.  Blyth,^  with  respect  to  closely-allied 

^  I  owe  this  information  to  Mr.  Gould,  who  showed  me  the  specimens : 
see  also  his  'Introduction  to  the  Trochilidae,'  1861,  p.  120. 

*  Macgillivray,  '  Hist.  Brit.  Birds,'  vol.  v.  pp.  20*7-214. 

^  See  his  admirable  paper  in  the  '  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Soc.  of  Ben- 
gal,' vol.  xix.  1850,  p.  223  ;  see  also  Jerdon,  'Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  in- 


182  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

species  which  represent  each  other  in  distinct  countries. 
For  with  several  of  these  representative  species  the  adult 
males  have  undergone  a  certain  amount  of  change  and  can 
be  distinguished ;  the  females  and  tlie  young  being  imdis- 
tinguishable,  and  therefore  absolutely  imchanged.  This 
is  the  case  with  certain  Indian  chats  (Thamnobia),  with 
certain  honeysuckers  (Nectarinia),  shrikes  (Tephrodornis), 
certain  kingfishers  (Tanysiptera),  Kallij  pheasants  (Gal- 
lophasis),  and  tree-partridges  (Arboricola). 

In  some  analogous  cases,  namely,  with  birds  having 
a  distinct  summer  and  winter  plumage,  but  with  the  two 
sexes  nearly  alike,  certain  closely-allied  species  can  easily 
be  distinguished  in  their  summer  or  nuptial  plumage,  yet 
are  undistinguishable  in  their  winter  as  well  as  in  their 
immature  plumage.  This  is  the  case  with  some  of  the 
closely-allied  Indian  wag-tails  or  Motacilla.  Mr.  Swinhoe  * 
informs  me  that  three  species  of  Ardeola,  a  genus  of  her- 
ons, which  represent  each  other  on  separate  continents, 
are  "  most  strikingly  different "  when  ornamented  with 
their  summer  plumes,  but  are  hardly,  if  at  all,  distinguish- 
able during  tlie  winter.  The  young  also  of  these  three 
species  in  their  immature  jilumage  closely  resemble  the 
adults  in  their  winter  dress.  This  case  is  all  the  more 
interesting  because  with  two  other  species  of  Ardeola 
both  sexes  retain,  during  the  winter  and  summer,  nearly 
the  same  plumage  as  that  possessed  by  the  first  three 
species  diiring  the  winter  and  in  their  immature  state  ; 
and  this  plumage,  which  is  common  to  several  distinct 
species  at  different  ages  and  seasons,  probably  shows  us 

troduction,  p.  xxix.  In  regard  to  Tanysiptera,  Prof.  Sehlegel  told  Mr. 
Blyth  that  he  could  distinguish  several  distinct  races,  solely  by  compar- 
ing the  adult  males. 

'  See  also  Mr.  Swinhoe,  in  'Ibis,'  July,  1863,  p.  131 ;  and  a  previous 
paper,  with  an  extract  from  a  note  by  Mr.  Blyth,  in  'Ibis,'  Jan.  1861, 
p.  52. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG  LIKE   THE  ADULT  FEMALES.     183 

how  the  progenitor  of  the  genus  was  colored.  In  all  these 
cases,  the  nuptial  plumage,  which  we  may  assume  was 
originally  acquired  by  the  adult  males  during  the  breed- 
ing-season, and  transmitted  to  the  adults  of  both  sexes 
at  the  corresponding  season,  has  been  modified,  while  the 
winter  and  immature  plumages  have  been  left  unchanged. 
The  question  naturally  arises.  How  is  it  that  in  these 
latter  cases  the  winter  plumage  of  both  sexes,  and  ia  the 
former  cases  the  plumage  of  the  adult  females,  as  well  as 
the  immature  plumage  of  the  young,  have  not  been  at  all 
affected  ?  The  species  which  represent  each  other  in  dis- 
tinct countries  will  almost  always  have  been  exposed  to 
somewhat  different  conditions,  but  we  can  hardly  attrib- 
ute the  modification  of  the  plumage  in  the  males  alone  to 
this-  action,  seeing  that  the  females  and  the  young,  though 
similarly  exposed,  have  not  been  affected.  Hardly  any 
fact  in  Nature  shows  us  more  clearly  how  subordinate  in 
importance  is  the  direct  action  of  the  conditions  of  life, 
in  comparison  with  the  accumulation  through  selection  of 
indefinite  variations,  than  the  surprising  difference  be- 
tween the  sexes  of  many  birds  ;  for  both  sexes  must  have 
consumed  the  same  food  and  have  been  exposed  to  the 
same  climate.  Nevertheless  we  are  not  precluded  from 
believing  that  in  the  course  of  time  new  conditions  may 
produce  some  direct  effect ;  we  see  only  that  this  is  sub- 
ordinate in  importance  to  the  accumulated  results  of  se- 
lection. When,  however,  a  species  migrates  into  a  new 
country,  and  this  must  precede  the  formation  of  represent- 
ative species,  the  changed  conditions  to  which  they  will 
almost  always  have  been  exposed  will  cause  them  to 
undergo,  judging  from  a  widely-spread  analogy,  a  certain 
amount  of  flixctuating  variability.  In  this  case  sexual 
selection,  which  depends  on  an  element  eminently  liable 
to  change — namely,  the  taste  or  admiration  of  the  female 
— will  have  had  new  shades  of  color  or  other  differences 


184  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

to  act  on  and  accumulate;  and,  as  sexual  selection  is 
always  at  work,  it  would  (judging  from  what  we  know 
of  the  results  on  domestic  animals  of  man's  unintentional 
selection)  be  a  surprising  fact  if  animals  inhabiting  sepa- 
rate districts,  which  can  never  cross  and  thus  blend  tlu-ir 
newly-acquired  characters,  were  not,  after  a  sufficient 
lapse  of  time,  diflferently  modiiied.  These  remarks  like- 
wise apply  to  the  nuptial  or  simimer  plumage,  whether 
confined  to  the  males  or  common  to  both  sexes. 

Although  the  females  of  the  above  closely-allied  spe- 
cies, together  with  their  young,  differ  hardly  at  all  from 
each  other,  so  that  the  males  alone  can  be  distinguished, 
yet  in  most  cases  the  females  of  the  species  within  the 
same  genus  obviously  differ  from  each  other.  The  differ- 
ences, however,  are  rarely  as  great  as  between  the  males. 
We  see  this  clearly  in  the  whole  family  of  the  Gallinaceaj : 
the  females,  for  instance,  of  the  common  and  Japan  pheas- 
ant, and  especially  of  the  gold  and  Amherst  pheasant, 
of  the  silver  pheasant  and  the  wild-fowl,  resemble  each 
other  very  closely  in  color,  while  the  males  differ  to  an 
extraordinary  degree.  So  it  is  with  the  females  of  most 
of  the  Cotiiigidte,  Fringillida^  and  many  other  families. 
There  can  indeed  be  no  doubt  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
females  have  been  modified  to  a  less  extent  than  the 
males.  Some  few  birds,  however,  offer  a  singular  and 
inexplicable  exception ;  thus  the  females  of  Paradisca 
apoda  and  P.  Papuana  differ  from  each  other  more  than 
do  their  respective  males ; '  the  female  of  the  latter  spe- 
cies having  the  under  surface  pure  white,  while  the  female 
P.  apoda  is  deep  brown  l)eneath.  So,  again,  as  I  hear 
from  Prof.  Newton,  the  males  of  two  species  of  Oxy- 
notus  (shrikes),  which  represent  each  other  in  the  islands 
of  Mauritius  and  Bourbon,*  differ  but  little  in  color,  while 

'  WiiUaco,  'The  Malay  Archipelago,'  vol.  ii.  1869,  p.  30 1. 
*  These  species  are  described,  with  colored  figures,  liy  M.  F.  Polleu, 
ill  'Ibis,'  1866,  p.  275. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE  YOUNG  LIKE   THE   ADULT  FEMALES.     185 

the  females  diiFer  much.  In  the  Bourbon  species  the 
female  appears  to  have  partially  I'etained  an  immature 
condition  of  plumage,  for  at  first  sight  she  "  might  be 
taken  for  the  young  of  the  Mauritian  species."  These 
differences  may  be  compared  with  those  which  occui*, 
independently  of  selection  by  man,  and  which  we  cannot 
explain,  in  certain  sub-breeds  of  the  game-fowl,  in  which 
the  females  ^are  very  different,  while  the  males  can  hardly 
be  distinguished.^ 

As  I  account  so  largely  by  sexual  selection  for  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  males  of  allied  species,  how  can  the 
differences  between  the  females  be  accounted  for  in  all 
ordinary  cases  ?  We  need  not  here  consider  the  species 
which  belong  to  distinct  genera;  fox-,  with  these,  adapta- 
tion to  different  habits  of  life,  and  other  agencies,  will 
have  come  into  play.  In  regard  to  the  differences  be- 
tween the  females  within  the  same  genus,  it  appears  to 
me  almost  certain,  after  looking  through  various  large 
groups,  that  the  chief  agent  has  been  the  transference,  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  the  female  of  the  characters 
acquired  by  the  males  through  sexual  selection.  In  the 
several  British  finches,  the  two  sexes  differ  either  very 
slightly  or  considerably ;  and  if  we  compare  the  females 
of  the  greenfinch,  chafiinch,  goldfinch,  bullfinch,  crossbill, 
sparrow,  etc.,  we  shall  see  that  they  differ  from  each  other 
chiefly  in  the  points  in  which  they  partially  resemble  their 
respective  males ;  and  the  colors  of  the  males  may  safely 
be  attributed  to  sexual  selection.  With  many  gallina- 
ceous species  the  sexes  differ  to  an  extreme  degree,  as 
with  the  peacock,  pheasant,  and  fowl,  while  with  other 
species  there  has  been  a  partial  or  even  complete  transfer- 
ence of  character  from  the  male  to  the  female.  The  fe- 
males of  the  several  species  of  Polyplectron  exhibit  in  a 
dim  condition,  and  chiefly  on  the  tail,  the  splendid  ocelli 

^  'Variation  of  Animals,  etc.,  under  Domestication,'  vol.  i.  p.  251. 


186  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  H. 

of  their  males.  The  female  partridge  differs  from  the  male 
only  in  the  red  mark  on  her  breast  being  smaller ;  and  the 
female  wild-turkey  only  in  her  colors  being  much  duller. 
In  the  guinea-fowl  the  two  sexes  are  undistinguishablc. 
There  is  no  improbability  in  the  plain,  though  peculiar 
spotted  plumage  of  this  latter  bird  having  been  acquired 
through  sexual  selection  by  the  males,  and  then  trans- 
mitted to  both  sexes ;  for  it  is  not  essentially  different 
from  the  much  more  beautifully-spotted  plumage,  charac- 
teristic of  the  males  alone  of  the  Tragopan  pheasants. 

It  should  be  observed  that,  in  some  instances,  the  trans- 
ference of  characters  from  the  male  to  the  female  has  been 
effected  apparently  at  a  remote  period,  the  male  having 
subsequently  undergone  great  changes,  without  transfer- 
ring to  the  female  any  of  his  later-gained  characters.  For 
instance,  the  female  and  the  young  of  the  black-grouse 
{Tetrao  tetrix)  resemble  pretty  closely  both  sexes  and  the 
young  of  the  red-grouse  {T.  Scoticus)  /  and  we  may  conse- 
quently infer  that  the  black-grouse  is  descended  from 
some  ancient  species,  of  which  both  sexes  were  colored  in 
nearly  the  same  manner  as  the  red-grouse.  As  both  sexes 
of  this  latter  species  are  more  plainly  barred  during  the 
breeding-season  than  at  any  other  time,  and  as  the  male 
differs  slightly  from  the  female  in  his  more  strongly- 
pronounced  red  and  brown  tints,"  we  may  conclude  that 
his  plumage  has  been,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  influ- 
enced by  sexual  selection.  If  so,  we  may  further  infer 
that  the  nearly  similar  plumage  of  the  lemale  black-grouse 
was  similarly  produced  at  some  fonner  period.  But  since 
this  period  the  male  black-grouse  has  acquired  his  fine 
black  plumage,  with  his  forked  and  outwardly-curled  tail- 
feathers  ;  but  of  these  characters  there  has  hardly  been 
any  transference  to  the  female,  excepting  that  she  shows 
in  her  tail  a  trace  of  the  ciu-ved  fork. 

'•  MacgUlivray,  'Hist.  British  Birds,'  vol.  i.  pp.  172-1V4. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG   LIKE   THE  ADULT  FEMALES.     187 

We  may  therefore  conclude  that  the  females  of  dis- 
tinct though  allied  species  have  often  had  their  plumage  ren- 
dered more  or  less  different  by  the  transference,  in  various 
degrees,  of  characters  acquired,  both  during  former  and 
recent  times,  by  the  males  through  sexual  selection.  But 
it  deserves  especial  attention  that  brilliant  colors  have 
been  transferred  much  more  i*arely  than  other  tints.  For 
instance,  the  male  of  the  red-throated  bluebreast  ( Cya- 
necula  suecica)  has  a  rich  blue  breast,  including  a  sub-tri- 
angular red  mark  ;  now,  marks  of  approximately  the  same 
shape  have  been  transferred  to  the  female,  but  the  central 
space  is  fulvous  instead  of  red,  and  is  surrounded  by  mot- 
tled instead  of  blue  feathers.  The  Gallinaceae  offer  many 
analogous  cases ;  for  none  of  the  species,  such  as  partridges, 
quails,  guinea-fowls,  etc.,  in  which  the  colors  of  the  plu- 
mage have  been  largely  transferred  from  the  male  to  the  fe- 
male, are  brilliantly  colored.  This  is  well  exemplified  with 
the  pheasants,  in  which  the  male  is  generally  so  much  more 
brilliant  than  the  female ;  but  with  the  Eared  and  Cheer 
pheasants  {Grossoptilon  auritum  and  Phasianus  Wal- 
lichii)  the  two  sexes  closely  resemble  each  other,  and  their 
colors  are  dull.  We  may  go  so  far  as  to  believe  that,  if 
any  part  of  the  plumage  in  the  males  of  these  two  pheas- 
ants had  been  brilliantly  colored,  this  would  not  have  been 
transferred  to  the  females.  These  facts  strongly  support 
Mr.  Wallace's  view,  that,  with  birds  which  are  exposed  to 
much  danger  during  nidification,  the  transference  of 
bright  colors  from  the  male  to  the  female  has  been  checked 
through  natural  selection.  We  must  not,  however,  forget 
that  another  explanation,  before  given,  is  possible ;  namely, 
that  the  males  which  varied  and  became  bright,  while 
they  were  young  and  inexperienced,  would  have  been  ex- 
posed to  much  danger,  and  wotild  generally  have  been 
destroyed;  the  older  and  more  cautious  males,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  they  varied  in  a  like  manner,  would  not  only 


188  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

have  been  able  to  survive,  but  would  have  been  favored  in 
their  rivalrywith  other  males.  Now,  variations  occurring 
late  in  life  tend  to  be  transmitted  exclusively  to  the  same 
sex,  so  that  in  this  case  extremely  bright  tints  Avould  not 
have  been  transmitted  to  the  females.  On  the  other  hand, 
ornaments  of  a  less  conspicuous  kind,  such  as  those  pos- 
sessed by  the  Eared  and  Cheer  pheasants,  would  not  have 
been  dangerous,  and,  if  they  appeared  during  early  youth, 
would  generally  have  been  transmitted  to  both  sexes. 

In  addition  to  the  effects  of  the  partial  transference  of 
chai'acters  from  the  males  to  the  females,  some  of  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  females  of  closely-allied  species  may 
be  attributed  to  the  direct  or  definite  action  of  the  condi- 
tions of  life."  With  the  males  any  such  action  would 
generally  have  been  masked  by  the  brilliant  colors  gained 
through  sexual  selection ;  but,  not  so  with  the  females. 
Each  of  the  endless  diversities  in  plumage,  which  we  see 
in  our  domesticated  birds,  is,  of  course,  the  result  of  some 
definite  cause ;  and,  under  natural  and  more  uniform  con- 
ditions, some  one  tint,  assuming  that  it  was  in  no  way  in- 
jurious, would  almost  certainly  sooner  or  later  prevail. 
The  free  intercrossing  of  many  individuals  belonging  to 
the  same  species  would  ultimately  tend  to  make  any 
change  of  color,  thus  induced,  uniform  in  character. 

No  one  doubts  that  both  sexes  of  many  birds  have  had 
their  colors  adapted  for  the  sake  of  protection ;  and  it  is 
Dossible  that  the  females  alone  of  some  species  may  have 
been  thus  modified.  Although  it  woulcLbe  a  difficult,  per- 
haps an  impossible  process,  as  shown  in  the  last  chapter, 
to  convert  through  selection  one  form  of  transmission  into 
another,  there  would  not  be  the  least  difficulty  in  adapting 
the  colors  of  the  female,  independently  of  those  of  the 
male,  to  surrounding  objects,  through  the  accimiulation 

"  See,  on  this  subject,  chap,  x.viii.  in  the  '  Variation  of  Animals  and 
Plants  under  Domestication.' 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG  LIKE   THE   ADULT  FEMALES.     189 

of  variations  which  were  from  the  first  limited  in  their 
transmission  to  the  female  sex.  If  the  variations  Avere  not 
thus  limited,  the  bright  tints  of  the  male  would  be  deteri- 
orated or  destroyed.  Whether  the  females  alone  of  many- 
species  have  been  thus  specially  modified,  is  at  present 
very  doubtful.  I  wish  I  could  follow  Mr.  Wallace  to  the 
full  extent ;  for  the  admission  would  remove  some  difiicul- 
ties.  Any  variations  which  were  of  no  service  to  the 
female  as  a  protection  would  be  at  once  obliterated, 
instead  of  being  lost  simply  by  not  being  selected,  or  from 
free  intercrossing,  or  from  being  eliminated  when  trans- 
ferred to  the  male  and  in  any  way  injurious  to  him.  Thus 
the  plumage  of  the  female  would  be  kej^t  constant  in  char- 
acter. It  would  also  be  a  relief  if  we  could  admit  that  the 
obscure  tints  of  both  sexes  of  many  birds  had  been 
acquired  and  preserved  for  the  sake  of  protection — for 
example,  of  the  hedge-warbler  or  kitty-wren  (Accentor 
modularis  and  Troglodytes  vulgaris),  with  respect  to 
which  we  have  no  sufiicient  evidence  of  the  action  of  sex- 
ual selection.  We  ought,  however,  to  be  cautious  in 
concluding  that  colors,  which  appear  to  us  dull,  are  not 
attractive  to  the  females  of  certain  species;  we  should 
bear  in  mind  such  cases  as  that  of  the  common  house-spar- 
row, in  which  the  male  differs  much  from  the  female,  but 
does  not  exhibit  any  bright  tints.  No  one  probably  will 
dispute  that  many  gallinaceous  birds  which  live  on  the 
open  ground  have  acquired  their  present  colors,  at  least  in 
part,  for  the  sake  of  protection.  We  know  how  well  they 
are  thus  concealed;  we  know  that  ptarmigans,  while 
changing  from  their  winter  to  their  summer  plumage,  both 
of  which  are  protective,  suffer  greatly  from  birds  of  prey. 
But  can  we  believe  that  the  very  slight  differences  in  tints 
and  markings  between,  for  instance,  the  female  black  and 
red  grouse  serve  as  a  protection  ?  Are  partridges,  as  they 
are  now   colored,  better  protected  than  if  they  had  re- 


190  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Paut  H. 

sembled  quails?  Do  the  slight  differences  between  the 
females  of  the  common  pheasant,  the  Japan  and  golden 
pheasants,  serve  as  a  protection,  or  might  not  their  plu- 
mages have  been  interchanged  with  impunity  ?  From  what 
Mr.  Wallace  has  observed  of  the  habits  of  certain  gallina- 
ceous birds  in  the  East,  he  thinks  that  such  slight  differ- 
ences are  beneficial.  For  myself,  I  will  only  say  that  I 
am  not  convinced. 

Formerly,  when  I  was  inclined  to  lay  much  stress  on 
the  principle  of  protection,  as  accounting  for  the  less 
bright  colors  of  female  birds,  it  occurred  to  me  that  pos- 
sibly both  sexes  and  the  young  might  aboriginally  have 
been  brightly  colored  in  an  equal  degree  ;  but  that,  subse- 
quently, the  females,  from  the  danger  incurred  during 
incubation,  and  the  young,  from  being  inexperienced,  had 
been  rendered  dull  as  a  protection.  But  this  view  is  not 
supported  by  any  evidence,  and  is  not  probable ;  for  we 
thus  in  imagination  expose  during  past  times  the  females 
and  the  young  to  danger,  from  which  it  has  subsequently 
been  necessary  to  shield  their  modified  descendants.  We 
have,  also,  to  reduce,  through  a  gradual  process  of  selec- 
tion, the  females  and  the  young  to  almost  exactly  the 
same  tints  and  markings,  and  to  transmit  them  to  the  cor- 
responding sex  and  period  of  life.  It  is  also  a  somewhat 
strange  fact,  on  the  supposition  that  the  females  and  the 
young  have  partaken,  during  each  stage  of  the  process  of 
modification,  of  a  tendency  to  be  as  brightly  colored  as  the 
males,  that  the  females  have  never  been  rendered  dull- 
colored  without  the  young  participating  in  the  same 
change ;  for  there  are  no  instances,  as  far  as  I  can  discov- 
er, of  species  with  the  females  dull-colored  and  the  young 
bright-colored.  A  partial  exception,  however,  is  offered 
by  the  young  of  certain  woodpeckers,  for  they  have  "the 
whole  upper  part  of  the  head  tinged  with  red,"  which 
afterward  either  decreases  into  a  mere  circular  red  line  in 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG  LIKE   THE  ADULT   MALES.  191 

the  adults  of  both  sexes,  or  quite  disappears  in  the  adult 
females," 

Finally,  with  respect  to  our  present  class  of  cases,  the 
most  probable  view  appears  to  be,  that  successive  varia- 
tions in  brightness  or  in  other  ornamental  characters, 
occurring  in  the  males  at  a  rather  late  period  of  life  have, 
alone  been  preserved  ;  and  that  most  or  all  of  these  varia- 
tions, owing  to  the  late  period  of  life  at  which  they  ap- 
peared, have  been  from  the  first  transmitted  only  to  the 
adult  male  ofispring.  Any  variations  in  brightness  which 
occurred  in  the  females  or  in  the  young  would  have  been 
of  no  service  to  them,  and  would  not  have  been  selected ; 
moreover,  if  dangerous,  would  have  been  eliminated.  Thus 
the  females  and  the  young  will  either  have  been  left  un- 
modified, or,  and  this  has  much  more  commonly  occurred, 
will  have  been  partially  modified,  by  receiving,  through 
transference  from  the  males,  some  of  the  successive  varia- 
tions. Both  sexes  have  perhaps  been  directly  acted  on 
by  the  conditions  of  life  to  which  they  have  long  been  ex- 
posed ;  but  the  females,  from  not  being  otherwise  much 
modified,  will  best  exhibit  any  such  efiects.  These  changes 
and  all  others  will  have  been  kept  uniform  by  the  free  in- 
tercrossing of  many  individuals.  In  some  cases,  especially 
with  ground-birds,  the  females  and  the  young  may  possi- 
bly have  been  modified,  independently  of  the  males,  for 
the  sake  of  protection,  so  as  to  have  acquired  the  same 
dull-colored  plumage. 

Class  II.  When  the  adult  female  is  more  conspicuous 
than  the  adult  male^  the  young  of  both  sexes  in  their  first 
plumage  resemble  the  adxdt  male. — This  class  is  exactly  the 
reverse  of  the  last,  for  the  females  are  here  more  brightly 

"^  Audubon,  '  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  193.  Macgillivray,  'Hist. 
Brit.  Birds,'  vol.  iii.  p.  85.  See  also  the  case  before  given  of  Indopicus 
carlotta. 


192  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

colored  or  more  conspicuous  than  tlie  males ;  and  the 
young,  as  far  as  they  are  known,  resemble  the  adult  males 
instead  of  the  adult  females.  But  the  difference  between 
the  sexes  is  never  nearly  so  great  as  occurs  with  many 
birds  in  the  first  class,  and  the  cases  are  comparatively 
rare.  Mr.  "Wallace,  who  first  called  attention  to  the  singu- 
lar relation  which  exists  between  the  less  bright  colors  of 
the  males  and  their  performing  the  duties  of  incubation, 
lays  great  stress  on  this  point,''  as  a  crucial  test  that  ob- 
scure colors  have  been  acquired  for  the  sake  of  protection 
during  the  period  of  nesting.  A  different  view  seems  to 
me  more  probable.  As  the  cases  are  curious,  and  not 
numerous,  I  will  briefly  give  all  that  I  have  been  able  to 
find. 

In  one  section  of  the  genus  Tumix,  quail-like  birds,  the 
female  is  invariably  larger  than  the  male  (being  nearly 
twice  as  large  in  one  of  the  Australian  species),  and  this  is 
an  unusual  circumstance  with  the  Gallinacea?.  In  most 
of  the  species  the  female  is  more  distinctly  colored  and 
brighter  than  the  male,"  but  in  some  few  species  the  sexes 
are  alike.  In  Ttimix  taigoor  of  India  the  male  "  wants 
the  black  on  the  throat  and  neck,  and  the  whole  tone  of 
the  plumage  is  lighter  and  less  jjronounced  than  that  of 
the  female."  The  female  appears  to  be  more  vociferous, 
and  is  certainly  much  more  jiugiiacious,  than  the  male ; 
so  that  the  females  and  not  the  males  are  often  kept  by 
the  natives  for  fighting,  like  game-cocks.  As  male  birds 
are  exposed  by  the  English  bird-catchers  for  a  decoy  near 
a  trap,  in  order  to  catch  other  males  by  exciting  their  ri- 

"  '  Westmrnster  Review,  July,  1807,  and  A.  Murray,  'Journal  of 
Travel,'  1868,  p.  83. 

"  For  the  Australian  species,  see  Gould's  '  Iland-book,'  etc.,  vol.  ii 
pp.  178,  180,  186,  188.  In  the  British  Museum  specimens  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Plain-wanderer  {Pedionotnus  torquatns)  may  be  seen,  showing 
similar  se.\ual  ditt'crcnces. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG  LIKE   THE   ADULT   MALES.  193 

valry,  so  the  females  of  this  Turnix  are  employed  in  India. 
When  thus  exposed  the  females  soon  begin  their  "  loud, 
purring  call,  which  can  be  heard  a  long  way  oiF,  and  any 
females  within  ear-shot  run  rapidly  to  the  spot,  and  com- 
mence fighting  with  the  caged  bird."  In  this  way  from 
twelve  to  twenty  birds,  all  breeding-females,  may  be 
caught  in  the  course  of  a  single  day.  The  natives  assert 
that  the  females  after  laying  their  eggs  associate  in  flocks, 
and  leave  the  males  to  sit  on  them.  There  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  which  is  supported  by 
some  observations  made  in  China  by  Mr.  Swinhoe."  Mr. 
Blyth  believes  that  the  young  of  both  sexes  resemble  the 
adult  male. 

The  females  of  the  three  species  of  Painted  Snipes 
(Rhynchsea)  "  are  not  only  larger,  but  much  more  richly 
colored  than  the  males." "  With  all  other  birds,  in 
which  the  trachea  diifers  in  structure  in  the  two  sexes, 
it  is  more  developed  and  complex  in  the  male  than  in  the 
female ;  but  in  the  MhynchcBa  Australis  it  is  simple  in 
the  male,  while  in  the  female  it  makes  four  distinct  con- 
volutions before  entering  the  lungs."  The  female,  there- 
fore, of  this  species  has  acquired  an  eminently  masculine 
character.  Mr.  Blyth  ascertained,  by  examining  many 
specimens,  that  the  trachea  is  not  convoluted  in  either  sex 
of  It.  Sengalensis^  which  species  so  closely  resembles  R. 
Australis  that  it  can  hardly  be  distinguished  except  by 
its  shorter  toes.  This  fact  is  another  striking  instance  of 
the  law  that  secondary  sexual  characters  are  often  widely 
different  in  closely-allied  forms ;  though  it  is  a  very  rare 
circumstance  when  such  differences  relate  to  the  female 
sex.     The  young  of  both  sexes  of  M.  Bengalensis  in  their 

>'  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  596.  Mr.  Swinhoe,  in  '  Ibis,' 
1865,  p.  542;   1866,  pp.  131,  405. 

'*  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India.'  vol.  iii.  p.  eYY. 
"  Gould's  '  Hand-book  of  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  ii.  p.  275. 
28 


194 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS. 


[Part  11. 


first  plumage  are  said  to  resemble  the  mature  male." 
There  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  the  male  undertakes 
the  duty  of  incubation,  for  Mr.   Swinhoe '"  found  the  fe- 


FiG.  60.— Rhynchaea  capcnsis  (from  Brehm). 

males  before  the  close  of  the  summer  associated  in  flocks, 
as  occurs  with  the  females  of  the  Turnix, 

The  females  of  Phalaropus  fidlcariiis  and  P.  hyperho- 
reics  are  larger,  and  in  their  summer  plumage  "  more  gayly 

'8  'The  Indian  Field,'  Sept.  1858,  p.  3. 
'9  '  Ibis,'  1 8G6,  p.  298. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE  YOUNG   LIKE  THE   ADULT  MALES.  195 

attired  than  the  males."  But  the  diiFerence  in  color  be- 
tween the  sexes  is  far  from  conspicuous.  The  male  alone 
of  P.  fulicarms  undertakes,  according  to  Prof.  Steenstrup, 
the  duty  of  incubation,  as  is  likewise  shown  by  the  state 
of  his  breast-feathers  during  the  breeding-season.  The 
female  of  the  dotterel  plover  (Eudromias  morinellus)  is 
larger  than  the  male,  and  has  the  red  and  black  tints  on 
the  lower  surface,  the  white  crescent  on  the  breast,  and 
the  stripes  over  the  eyes,  more  strongly  pronounced.  The 
male  also  takes  at  least  a  share  in  hatching  the  eggs  ;  but 
the  female  likewise  attends  to  the  young. *"•  I  have  not 
been  able  to  discover  whether  with  these  species  the 
young  resemble  the  adult  males  more  closely  than  the 
adult  females  ;  for  the  comparison  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
make  on  account  of  the  double  moult. 

Turning  now  to  the  Ostrich  order:  the  male  of  the 
common  cassowary  {Casiiarivs  galeatus)  would  be 
thought  by  any  one  to  be  the  female,  from  his  smaller 
size  and  from  the  appendages  and  naked  skin  about  his 
head  being  much  less  brightly  colored;  and  I  am  in- 
formed by  Mr.  Bartlett  that  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  it 
is  certainly  the  male  alone  who  sits  on  the  eggs  and  takes 
care  of  the  young.^'  The  female  is  said  by  Mr.  T.  W. 
Wood  ^"^  to   exhibit   during  the   breeding-season  a  most 

*"  For  these  several  statements,  see  Mr.  Gould's  '  Birds  of  Great  Brit- 
ain.' Prof.  Newton  informs  me  that  he  has  long  been  convinced,  from 
his  own  observations  and  from  those  of  others,  that  the  males  of  the 
above-named  species  take  either  the  whole  or  a  large  share  of  the  duties 
of  incubation,  and  that  they  "  show  much  greater  devotion  toward  their 
young,  when  in  danger,  than  do  the  females."  So  it  is,  as  he  informs  me, 
with  Limosa  lapponica  and  some  few  other  Waders,  in  which  the  females 
are  larger  and  have  more  strongly-contrasted  coloi's  than  the  males. 

=*'  The  natives  of  Ceram  (Wallace,  'Malay  Archipelago,'  vol.  ii.  p.  150) 
assert  that  the  male  and  female  sit  alternately  on  the  eggs ;  but  this  as- 
sertion, as  Mr.  Bartlett  thinks,  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  female  visit- 
ing the  nest  to  lay  her  eggs. 

5-^  '  The  Student,'  April,  1870,  p.  124. 

/  - 


196  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Part  XL 

pugnacious  disposition  ;  and  her  wattles  then  become  en- 
larged and  more  brilliantly  colored.  So,  again,  the  female 
of  one  of  the  emus  [Dromceus  irroratus)  is  considerably- 
larger  than  the  male,  and  she  possesses  a  slight  top-knot, 
but  is  otherwise  undistinguishable  in  plumage.  She  ap 
pears,  however,  "  to  have  greater  power,  when  angry  or 
otherwise  excited,  of  erecting,  like  a  turkey-cock,  the 
feathers  of  her  neck  and  breast.  She  is  usually  the  more 
courageous  and  pugilistic.  She  makes  a  deep,  hollow,  gut- 
tural boom,  especially  at  night,  sounding  like  a  small 
jronsf.  The  male  has  a  slenderer  frame  and  is  more  docile, 
with  no  voice  beyond  a  suppressed  hiss  when  angry,  or  a 
croak."  He  not  only  performs  the  whole  duty  of  incuba- 
tion, but  has  to  defend  the  young  from  their  mother  ;  "for 
as  soon  as  she  catches  sight  of  her  progeny  she  becomes 
violently  agitated,  and  notwithstanding  the  resistance  of 
the  father  appears  to  use  her  utmost  endeavors  to  destroy 
them.  For  months  afterward  it  is  unsafe  to  put  the  par- 
ents together,  violent  quarrels  being  the  inevitable  result, 
in  which  the  female  generally  comes  off  conqueror."  "  So 
that  with  this  emu  we  have  a  complete  reversal  not  only 
of  the  parental  and  incubating  instincts,  but  of  the  usual 
moral  qualities  of  the  two  sexes ;  the  females  being  sav- 
age, quarrelsome,  and  noisy,  tlie  males  gentle  and  good. 
The  case  is  very  different  with  the  African  ostrich,  for  the 
male  is  somewhat  larger  than  the  female  and  has  finer 
plumes  with  more  strongly-contrasted  colors ;  neverthe- 
less, he  undertakes  the  whole  duty  of  incubation." 

I  will  specify  the  few  other  cases. known  to  me,  in 
which  the  female  is  more  coTispicuously  colored  than  tlie 
male,  although  nothing  is  known  about  their  manner  of 

**  See  the  excellent  account  of  the  lial)its  of  this  bird  under  confine- 
ment, by  Mr.  A.  W.  Bennett,  in  '  Land  and  Water,'  May,  1868,  p.  233. 

'*  Mr.  Sclater,  on  the  incubation  of  the  Struthioncs, '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,' 
June  9,  1863. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG   LIKE   THE  ADULT   MALES.  197 

incubation.  With  the  carrion-hawk  of  the  Falkland  Isl- 
ands {Milvago  leucurus)  I  was  much  sm-prised  to  find  by 
dissection  that  the  individuals,  which  had  all  their  tints 
strongly  pronounced,  with  the  cere  and  legs  orange-col- 
ored, were  the  adult  females;  while  those  with  duller 
plumage  and  gray  legs  were  the  males  or  the  young.  In 
an  Australian  tree-creeper  ( Cllmacteris  erythrops)  the  fe- 
male differs  from  the  male  in  "  being  adorned  with  beauti- 
ful, radiated,  rufous  markings  on  the  throat,  the  male  hav- 
ing this  part  quite  plain."  Lastly,  in  an  Australian  night- 
jar "  the  female  always  exceeds  the  male  in  size  and  in 
the  brilliance  of  her  tints ;  the  males,  on  the  other  hand, 
have  two  white  spots  on  the  primaries  more  conspicuous 
than  in  the  female."  " 

We  thus  see  that  the  cases  in  which  female  birds  are 
more  conspicuously  colored  than  the  males,  with  the 
young  in  their  immature  plumage  resembling  the  adult 
males  instead  of  the  adult  females,  as  in  the  previous  class, 
are  not  numerous,  though  they  are  distributed  in  various 
Orders.  The  amount  of  difference,  also,  between  the  sexes 
is  incomparably  less  than  that  which  frequently  occurs  in 

^^  For  the  Milvago,  see  '  Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  Beagle,' 
Birds,  1841,  p.  16.  For  the  Climacteris  and  night-jar  (Eurostopodus), 
see  Gould's  '  Hand-book  of  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  pp.  602,  97. 
The  New  Zealand  shieldrake  ( Tadorna  variegata)  offers  a  quite  anomalous 
case  :  the  head  of  the  female  is  pure  white,  and  her  back  is  redder  than 
that  of  the  male  ;  the  head  of  the  male  is  of  a  rich  dark  bronzed  color, 
and  his  back  is  clothed  with  finely-pencilled  slate-colored  feathers,  so 
that  he  may  altogether  be  considered  as  the  more  beautiful  of  the  two. 
He  is  larger  and  more  pugnacious  than  the  female,  and  does  not  sit  on 
the  eggs.  So  that  in  aU  these  respects  this  species  comes  under  our  first 
class  of  cases;  but  Mr.  Sclater  ('Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1866,  p.  150)  was 
much  surprised  to  observe  that  the  young  of  both  sexes,  when  about 
three  months  old,  resembled  in  their  dark  heads  and  necks  the  adult 
males,  instead  of  the  adult  females ;  so  that  it  would  appear  in  this  case 
that  the  females  have  been  modified,  while  the  males  and  the  young  have 
retained  a  former  state  of  plumage. 


198  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

the  last  class ;  so  that  the  cause  of  the  difference,  what- 
ever it  may  have  been,  has  acted  on  the  females  in  the 
present  class  cither  less  energetically  or  less  persistently 
than  on  the  males  in  the  last  class.  Mr.  Wallace  believes 
that  the  males  have  had  their  colors  rendered  less  conspic- 
uous for  the  sake  of  protection  during  the  period  of  incu- 
bation ;  but  the  difference  between  the  sexes  in  hardly 
any  of  the  foregoing  cases  appears  sufficiently  great  for 
this  view  to  be  safely  accepted.  In  some  of  the  cases  the 
brighter  tints  of  the  female  are  almost  confined  to  the 
lower  surface,  and  the  males,  if  thus  colored,  would  not 
have  been  exposed  to  danger  while  sitting  on  the  eggs. 
It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  males  are  not 
only  in  a  slight  degree  less  conspicuously  colored  than  the 
females,  but  are  of  less  size,  and  have  less  strength.  They 
have,  moreover,  not  only  acquired  the  maternal  instinct  of 
incubation,  but  are  less  pugnacious  and  vociferous  than 
the  females,  and  in  one  instance  have  simpler  vocal  or- 
gans. Thus  an  almost  complete  transposition  of  the 
instincts,  habits,  disposition,  color,  size,  and  of  some 
points  of  structure,  has  been  effected  between  the  two 
sexes. 

Now  if  we  might  assume  that  the  males  in  the  present 
class  have  lost  some  of  that  ardor  w^hich  is  usual  to  their 
sex,  so  that  they  no  longer  search  eagerly  for  the  females ; 
or,  if  we  might  assume  that  the  females  have  become 
much  more  numerous  than  the  males — and  in  the  case  of 
one  Indian  Turnix  the  females  are  said  to  be  "  much  more 
commonly  met  with  than  the  males  "  "* — then  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  females  would  have  been  led  to  court 
the  males,  instead  of  being  courted  by  them.  This,  indeed, 
is  the  case  to  a  certain  extent,  with  some  birds,  as  we 
have  seen  with  the  peahen,  wild-turkey,  and  certain  kinds 
of  grouse.  Taking  as  our  guide  the  habits  of  most  male 
**  Jerdon,  *  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  598. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG  LIKE  BOTH   ADULTS.  199 

birds,  the  greater  size  and  strength  and  the  extraordinary 
pugnacity  of  the  females  of  the  Turnix  and  Emu,  must 
mean  that  they  endeavor  to  drive  away  rival  females,  in 
order  to  gain  possession  of  the  male ;  and  on  this  view, 
all  the  facts  become  clear ;  for  the  males  would  probably 
be  most  charmed  or  excited  by  the  females  which  were 
the  most  attractive  to  them  by  their  brighter  colors,  other 
ornaments,  or  vocal  powers.  Sexual  selection  would  then 
soon  do  its  work,  steadily  adding  to  the  attractions  of  the 
females ;  the  males  and  the  young  being  left  not  at  all,  or 
but  little  modified. 

Class  III. —  When  the  adult  male  resembles  the  adult 
female^  the  young  of  both  sexes  have  a  peculiar  first  plu- 
mage of  their  own. — In  this  class  both  sexes  when  adult 
resemble  each  other,  and  differ  from  the  young.  This 
occurs  with  many  birds  of  many  kinds.  The  male  robin 
can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  the  female,  but  the 
young  are  widely  different  with  their  mottled  dusky-olive 
and  brown  plumage.  The  male  and  female  of  the  splen- 
did scarlet  Ibis  are  alike,  while  the  young  are  brown ;  and 
the  scarlet  color  though  common  to  both  sexes,  is  appar- 
ently a  sexual  character,  for  it  is  not  well  developed  with 
birds  under  confinement,  in  the  same  manner  as  often  oc- 
curs in  the  case  of  brilliantly-colored  male  birds.  With 
many  species  of  herons  the  young  differ  greatly  from  the 
adults,  and  their  summer  plumage,  though  common  to  both 
sexes,  clearly  has  a  nuptial  character.  Young  swans  are 
slate-colored,  while  the  mature  birds  are  pure  whit'-  but  it 
would  be  superfluous  to  give  additional  instancet,.  These 
differences  between  the  young  and  the  old  apparently  de- 
pend, as  in  the  last  two  classes,  on  the  young  having 
retained  a  former  or  ancient  state  of  plumage,  which  has 
been  exchanged  for  a  new  plumage  by  the  old  of  both 
sexes.  When  the  adults  are  brightly  colored,  we  may 
conclude  from  the  remarks  just  made  in  relation  to  the 


300  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

scarlet  ibis  and  to  many  licnins,  and  from  the  analogy  of 
the  species  in  the  first  class,  that  such  colors  have  been 
acquired  through  sexual  selection  by  the  nearly  mature 
males;  but  that,  ditierently  from  what  occurs  in  the  first 
two  classes,  tlie  transmission,  though  limited  to  the  same 
age,  has  not  been  liuiited  to  the  same  sex.  Consequently 
both  sexes,  when  mature,  resemble  each  other  and  differ 
from  the  young. 

Class  IV.  When  the  adult  male  resembles  the  adult 
female,  the  young  of  both  sexes  in  their  first  plumage 
resemble  the  adults. — In  this  class  the  young  and  the 
adults  of  both  sexes,  whether  brilliantly  or  obscurely 
colored,  resemble  each  other.  Such  cases  are,  I  think, 
more  common  than  those  in  the  last  class.  We  have  in 
England  instances  in  the  kingfisher,  some  woodpeckers, 
the  jay,  magpie,  crow,  and  many  small  dull-colored' birds, 
such  as  the  hedge-warbler  or  kitty-wren.  But  the  simi- 
larity in  plumage  between  the  young  and  the  old  is  never 
absolutely  complete,  and  graduates  away  into  dissimilari- 
ty. Thus  the  young  of  some  members  of  the  kingfisher 
family  are  not  only  less  vividly  colored  than  the  adults, 
but  many  of  the  feathers  on  the  lower  surface  are  edged 
with  brown  " — a  vestige  probably  of  a  former  state  of  the 
plumage.  Frequently  in  the  same  group  of  birds,  even 
within  the  same  genus,  for  instance  in  an  Australian  genus 
of  parrokeets  (Platycercus),  the  young  of  some  species 
closely  resemble,  while  the  young  of  other  species  differ 
considerably  from  their  parents  of  both  sexes,  which  are 
alike."*  Both  sexes  and  the  young  of  the  common  jay  are 
closely  similar;  but  in  the  Canada  jay  {Perisoreus  Cana- 
densis) the  young  differ  so  much  from  their  parents  that 
they  were  formerly  described  as  distinct  species.** 

"  Jcrdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  pp.  222,  228.     Gould's  '  Hand-book 
of  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  pp.  124,  130. 
»8  Gould,  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  pp.  37,  46,  56. 
"  Audubon,  '  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  ii.  p.  66. 


Chap.  XVI.]      THE  YOUNG  LIKE  BOTH  ADULTS.  201 

Before  proceeding,  I  may  remark  that  under  the  pres- 
ent and  two  next  classes  of  cases  the  facts  are  so  complex, 
and  the  conclusions  so  doubtful,  that  any  one  who  feels 
no  especial  interest  in  the  subject  had  better  pass  them 
over. 

The  brilliant  or  conspicuous  colors  which  characterize 
many  birds  in  the  present  class,  can  rarely  or  never  be  of 
service  to  them  as  a  i3rotection ;  so  that  they  have  prob- 
ably been  gained  by  the  males  through  sexual  selection, 
and  then  transferred  to  the  females  and  the  young.  It  is, 
however,  possible  that  the  males  may  have  selected  the 
more  attractive  females ;  and  if  these  transmitted  their 
characters  to  their  offspring  of  both  sexes,  the  same  re- 
sults would  follow  as  from  the  selection  of  the  more  at- 
tractive males  by  the  females.  But  there  is  some  evidence 
that  this  contingency  has  rarely,  if  ever,  occurred  in  any 
of  those  groups  of  birds  in  which  the  sexes  are  generally 
alike ;  for  if  even  a  few  of  the  successive  variations  had 
failed  to  be  transmitted  to  both  sexes,  the  females  would 
have  exceeded  to  a  slight  degree  the  males  in  beauty. 
Exactly  the  reverse  occurs  under  nature ;  for  in  almost 
every  large  group,  in  which  the  sexes  generally  resemble 
each  other,  the  males  of  some  few  species  are  in  a  slight 
degree  more  brightly  colored  than  the  females.  It  is 
again  possible  that  the  females  may  have  selected  the 
more  beautiful  males,  these  males  having  reciprocally 
selected  the  more  beautiful  females;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  this  double  process  of  selection  would  be  likely 
to  occur,  owing  to  the  greater  eagerness  of  one  sex  than 
the  other,  and  whether  it  would  be  more  elEcient  than 
selection  on  one  side  alone.  It  is,  therefore,  the  most 
probable  view  that  sexual  selection  has  acted,  in  the  pres- 
ent class,  as  far  as  ornamental  characters  are  concerned,  in 
accordance  with  the  general  rule  throughout  the  animal 
kingdom,  that  is,  on   the   males;  and  that  these  have 


202  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Pakt  H. 

transmitted  their  gradually-acquired  colors,  either  equally 
or  almost  equally,  to  their  oifspring  of  hoth  sexes. 

Another  poiut  is  more  doubtful,  namely,  whether  the 
successive  variations  first  appeared  in  the  males  after  they 
had  become  nearly  mature,  or  while  quite  young.  In 
either  case  sexual  selection  must  have  acted  on  the  male 
when  he  had  to  compete  with  rivals  for  the  possession  of 
the  female ;  and  in  both  cases  the  characters  thus  acquired 
have  been  transmitted  to  both  sexes  and  all  ages.  But 
these  characters,  if  acquired  by  the  males  when  adult,  may 
have  been  transmitted  at  first  to  the  adults  alone,  and  at 
some  subsequent  period  transferred  to  the  young.  For 
it  is  known  that  when  the  law  of  inheritance  at  corre- 
sponding ages  fails,  the  offspring  often  inherit  characters 
at  an  earlier  age  than  that  at  which  they  first  appeared  in 
their  parents.'"  Cases  apparently  of  this  kind  have  been 
observed  with  birds  in  a  state  of  nature.  For  instance, 
Mr.  Blyth  has  seen  specimens  of  Lanius  rufus  and  of 
Colymbus  glacialis  which  had  assumed  while  young,  in  a 
quite  anomalous  manner,  the  adult  plumage  of  their 
parents."  Again,  the  young  of  the  common  swan  {Cyg- 
ni(s  olor)  do  not  cast  off  their  dark  feathers  and  become 
white  until  eigliteen  months  or  two  years  old;  but  Dr.  F. 
Forel  has  described  the  case  of  three  vigorous  young 
birds,  out  of  a  brood  of  four,  which  were  boi'n  pure  white. 
These  young  birds  were  not  albinoes,  as  shown  by  the 
color  of  their  beaks  and  legs,  which  nearly  resembled  the 
same  parts  in  the  adults. '" 

^  '  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  vol.  ii. 
p.  79. 

3'  Charlesworth,  'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  i.  1837,  pp.  805,  306. 

35  'Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  Vaudoise  des  Sc.  Nat.'  vol.  x.  1869,  p.  132. 
The  young  of  the  Polish  swan,  Cygmis  immutabilis  of  Yarrell,  are  always 
white;  but  this  species,  as  Mr.  Sclater  informs  me,  is  believed  to  be 
nothing  more  than  a  variety  of  the  Domestic  Swan  ( Cygnus  olor). 


CiiAP.  XVI.]       THE   YOUNG  LIKE  BOTH  ADULTS.  203 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  illustrate  the  above  three 
modes  by  which,  in  the  present  class,  the  two  sexes  and 
the  young  may  have  come  to  resemble  each  other,  by 
the  curious  case  of  the  genus  Passer/^  In  the  house-spar- 
row (P.  domesticus)  the  male  differs  much  from  the  fe- 
male and  from  the  young.  These  resemble  each  other, 
and  likewise  to  a  large  extent  both  sexes  and  the  young 
of  the  sparrow  of  Palestine  (P.  hrachydactylus)^  as  well 
as  of  some  allied  species.  We  may  therefore  assume  that 
the  female  and  young  of  the  house-sparrow  approximately 
show  us  the  plumage  of  the  progenitor  of  the  genus. 
Now  with  the  tree-sparrow  {P.  montanus)  both  sexes  and 
the  young  closely  resemble  the  male  of  the  house-sparrow ; 
so  that  they  have  all  been  modified  in  the  same  manner, 
and  all  depart  from  the  typical  coloring  of  their  early  pro- 
genitor. This  may  have  been  effected  by  a  male  ancestor 
of  the  tree-sparrow  having  varied,  firstly,  when  nearly  ma- 
ture, or,  secondly,  while  quite  young,  having  in  either  case 
transmitted  his  modified  plumage  to  the  females  and  the 
young ;  or,  thirdly,  he  may  have  varied  when  adult  and 
transmitted  his  plumage  to  both  adult  sexes,  and,  owing 
to  the  failure  of  the  law  of  inheritance  at  correspondiag 
ages,  at  some  subsequent  period  to  his  young. 

It  is  impossible  to  decide  which  of  these  three  modes 
has  generally  prevailed  throughout  the  present  class  of 
cases.  The  belief  that  the  males  varied  while  young,  and 
transmitted  their  variations  to  their  offspring  of  both 
sexes,  is  perhaps  the  most  probable.  I  may  here  add  that 
I  have  endeavored,  with  little  success,  by  consulting  vari- 
ous works,  to  decide  how  far  with  birds  the  period  of  vari- 
ation has  generally  determined  the  transmission  of  charac- 
ters to  one  sex  or  to  both.  The  two  rules,  often  referred 
to    (namely,   that   variations   occurring   late   in   life   are 

2*  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Blyth  for  infonnation  in  regard  to  this  genus. 
The  sparrow  of  Palestine  belongs  to  the  sub-genus  Petronia. 


204  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

transmitted  to  one  and  the  same  sex,  while  those  which 
occur  early  in  life  are  transmitted  to  both  sexes),  ap- 
parently hold  good  in  the  first,"  second,  and  fourth  classes 
of  cases ;  but  they  fail  in  an  equal  number,  namely,  in  the 
third,  often  in  the  fifth,"  and  in  the  sixth  small  class. 
They  hold  good,  however,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  with  a 
considerable  majority  of  the  species  of  birds.  Whether 
or  not  this  be  so,  we  may  conclude  from  the  facts  given 
in  the  eighth  chapter  that  the  period  of  variation  has 
been  one  important  element  in  determining  the  form  of 
transmission. 

With  birds  it  is  difficult  to  decide  by  what  standard 
we  ought  to  judge  of  the  earliness  or  lateness  of  the  period 
of  variation,  whether  by  the  age  in  reference  to  the  du- 
ration of  life,  or  to  the  power  of  reproduction,  or  to  the 
number  of  moults  through  which  the  species  passes.  The 
raoulting  of  birds,  even  within  the  same  family,  sometimes 
differs  much  without  any  assignable  cause.  Some  birds 
moult  so  early,  that  nearly  all  the  body-feathers  are  cast 
off  before  the  first  wing-feathers  are  fully  grown;  and  we 
cannot  believe  that  this  was  the  primordial  state  of  things. 
When  the  period  of  moulting  has  been  accelerated,  the 
age  at  which  the  colors  of  the  adult  plumage  were  first 
developed  would  falsely  appear  to  us  to  have  been  earlier 

•^  For  instance,  the  males  of  Tanagra  cestiva  and  FringiUa  cyanea  re- 
quire three  years,  the  male  of  FrmgiUa  ciris  four  years,  to  complete  their 
beautiful  plumage.  (See  Audubon,  '  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  pp.  233, 
280,  378.)  The  Harlequin  duck  takes  three  years  (ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  614). 
The  male  of  the  Gold  pheasant,  as  I  hear  from  Mr.  J.  Jenner  Weir,  can 
be  distinguished  from  the  female  when  about  three  months  old,  but  he 
docs  not  acquire  his  full  splendor  until  the  end  of  the  September  in  the 
following  year. 

^  Thus  the  Ibis  taiilahis  and  Grus  Amcricanus  take  four  years,  the 
Flamingo  several  years,  and  the  Ardea  Ludovicana  two  years,  before  they 
acquire  their  perfect  plumage.  See  Audubon,  ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  221 ;  vol. 
iii.  pp.  133,  139,  211. 


Chap.  XVI.]        THE   YOUNG  LIKE  BOTH  ADULTS.  205' 

than  it  really  was.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  the  practice 
followed  by  some  bird-fanciers,  who  pull  out  a  few  feathers 
from  the  breasts  of  nestling  bullfinches,  and  from  the  head 
or  neck  of  young  gold-pheasants,  in  order  to  ascertain  their 
sex ;  for  in  the  males  these  feathers  are  immediately  re- 
placed by  colored  ones.'°  The  actual  duration  of  life  is 
known  in  but  few  birds,  so  that  we  can  hardly  judge  by 
this  standard.  And  with  reference  to  the  period  at  which 
the  powers  of  reproduction  are  gained,  it  is  a  remarkable 
fact  that  various  birds  occasionally  breed  while  retaining 
their  immature  plumage." 

The  fact  of  birds  breeding  in  their  immature  plumage 
seems  opposed  to  the  belief  that  sexual  selection  has  played 
as  important  a  part  as  I  believe  it  has  in  giving  ornament- 
al colors,  plumes,  etc.,  to  the  males,  and,  by  means  of 
equal  transmission,  to  the  females  of  many  species.  The 
objection  would  be  a  valid  one,  if  the  younger  and  less 
ornamented  males  were  as  successful  in  winning  females 
and  propagating  their  kind,  as  the  older  and  more  beauti- 
ful males.     But  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  is 

36  Mr.  Blyth,  in  Charlesworth's  'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  i.  ISST,  p. 
300.     Mr.  Bartlett  has  informed  me  in  regard  to  gold-pheasants. 

*''  I  have  noticed  the  following  cases  in  Audubon's  '  Omith.  Biogra- 
phy. The  Redstart  of  America'  {Micscicapa  ruticilla,  vol.  i.  p.  203). 
The  Ibis  tantalus  takes  four  years  to  come  to  full  maturity,  but  sometimes 
breeds  in  the  second  year  (vol.  iii.  p.  138).  The  Grus  Americanus  takes 
the  same  time,  but  breeds  before  acquiring  its  full  plumage  (vol.  iii.  p. 
211).  The  adults  of  Ardea  ccerulea  are  blue  and  the  young  white;  and 
white,  mottled,  and  mature  blue  birds  may  all  be  seen  breeding  together 
(vol.  iv.  p.  58) :  but  Mr.  Blyth  informs  me  that  certain  herons  apparently 
are  dimorphic,  for  white  and  colored  individuals  of  the  same  age  may  be 
observed.  The  Harlequin  duck  (Anas  histrionica,  Linn.)  takes  three 
years  to  acquire  its  full  plumage,  though  many  birds  breed  La  the  second 
year  (vol.  iii.  p.  614).  The  Whiteheaded  Eagle  {Falco  leucocephalus,  vol. 
iii.  p.  210)  is  likewise  known  to  breed  in  its  immature  state.  Some  spe- 
cies of  Oriolus  (according  to  Mr.  Blyth  and  Mr.  Swinhoe,  in  '  Ibis,'  July, 
1863,  p.  68)  likewise  breed  before  they  attain  their  full  plumage. 


206  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

the  case.  Audubon  speaks  of  the  breeding  of  the  imma- 
ture males  of  Ibis  tantalus  as  a  rare  event,  as  does  Mr. 
Swinboe,  in  regard  to  the  immature  males  of  Oriolus."  K 
the  young  of  any  species  in  their  immature  plumage  were 
more  successful  in  winning  partners  than  the  adults,  the 
adult  plumage  would  probably  soon  be  lost,  as  the  males 
which  retained  their  immature  dress  for  the  longest  period 
would  prevail,  and  thus  the  character  of  the  species  would 
ultimately  be  modified."  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  young 
never  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  female,  the  habit  of  early 
reproduction  would  perhaps  be  sooner  or  later  quite  elim- 
inated, from  being  superfluous  and  entailing  waste  of 
power. 

Tlie  plumage  of  certain  birds  goes  on  increasing  in 
beauty  during  many  years  after  they  are  fully  mature ; 
this  is  the  case  with  the  train  of  the  peacock,  and  with 
the  crest  and  plumes  of  certain  herons ;  for  instance,  the 
Ardea  lAidovicana  ;*"  but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  continued  development  of  such  feathers  is  the  result  of 

^  See  the  last  foot-note. 

*'  Other  animals,  belonging  to  quite  distinct  classes,  are  either  habit- 
ually or  occasionally  capable  of  breeding  before  they  have  fully  acquired 
their  adult  characters.  This  is  the  case  with  the  young  males  of  the 
salmon.  Several  amphibians  have  been  known  to  breed  while  retaining 
their  larval  structure.  Fritz  Miiller  has  shown  ('  Facts  and  Arguments 
for  Darwin,'  Eng.  Trans.  1869,  p.  "79)  that  the  males  of  several  amphipod 
crustaceans  become  sexually  mature  while  young ;  and  I  infer  that  this 
is  a  case  of  premature  breeding,  because  they  have  not  as  yet  acquired 
their  fully-developed  claspcrs.  All  such  facts  are  highly  interesting,  as 
bearing  on  one  means  by  which  species  may  undergo  great  modifications 
of  character,  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Cope's  views,  expressed  under  the 
terras  of  the  "  retardation  and  acceleration  of  generic  characters ; "  but 
I  cannot  follow  the  views  of  this  eminent  naturalist  to  their  full  extent. 
See  Mr.  Cope,  "  On  the  Origin  of  Genera,"  from  the  '  Proc.  of  Acad.  Nat. 
Sc.  of  Philadelphia,'  Oct.  1868. 

*>  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iii.  p.  507,  on  the  peacock.  Audu- 
bon, ibid.  Tol.  iiL  p.  1S9,  on  the  Ardea. 


Chap.  XVI.]     SEASONAL  CHANGES   OF  PLUMAGE.  207 

the  selection  of  successive  beneficial  variations,  or  merely 
of  continuous  growth.  Most  fishes  continue  increasing  in 
size,  as  long  as  they  are  in  good  health  and  have  plenty 
of  food;  and  a  somewhat  similar  law  may  prevail  with 
the  plumes  of  birds. 

Class  V.  When  the  adults  of  both  sexes  have  a  dis- 
tinct winter  and  summer  plumage,  whether  or  not  the  male 
diners  from  the  female,  the  young  resemble  the  adults  of 
both  sexes  in  their  winter  dress,  or  much  more  rarely  in 
their  summer  dress,  or  they  resemble  the  females  alone  / 
or  the  young  may  have  an  intermediate  character ;  or, 
again,  they  may  differ  greatly  from  the  adults  in  both 
their  seasonal  plmnages. — The  cases  in  this  class  are 
singularly  complex ;  nor  is  this  surprising,  as  they  depend 
on  inheritance,  limited  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  three 
difierent  ways,  namely,  by  sex,  age,  and  the  season  of  the 
year.  In  some  cases  the  individuals  of  the  same  species 
pass  through  at  least  five  distinct  states  of  plumage. 
With  the  species,  in  which  the  male  differs  from  the 
female  during  the  summer  season  alone,  or,  which  is  rarer, 
during  both  seasons,**  the  young  generally  resemble  the 
females — as  with  the  so-called  goldfinch  of  North  Amer- 
ica, and  apparently  with  the  splendid  Maluri  of  Aus- 
tralia." With  the  species,  the  sexes  of  which  are  alike 
during  both  the  summer  and  winter,  the  young  may  re- 
semble the  adults,  firstly,  in  their  winter  dress  ;  secondly, 
which  occurs  much  more  rarely,  in  their  summer  dress  ; 
thirdly,  they  may  be  intermediate  between  these  two 
states;  and,  fourthly,  they  may  differ  greatly  from  the 

•*'  For  illustrative  cases  see  vol.  iv.  of  Macgillivray's  '  Hist.  Brit. 
Birds;'  on  Tringa,  etc.,  pp.  229,  271;  on  the  Machetes,  p.  1*72;  on  the 
Charadriits  hiaticula,  p.  118;  on  the  Charadrius  pluvialis,  p.  94. 

*'  For  the  goldfinch  of  North  America,  Fringilla  tristis,  Linn.,  see  Au- 
dubon, '  Omith.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  172.  For  the  Maluri,  Gould's  '  Hand- 
book of  the  Birds  of  Australia,'  vol.  i.  p.  318. 


208  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

adulta  at  all  seasons.  We  have  an  instance  of  the  first  of 
these  four  cases  in  one  of  the  egrets  of  India  {Buphus 
coromandus),  in  which  the  young  and  tlie  adults  of  both 
sexes  arc  white  during  the  winter,  the  adults  becoming 
golden-buff  during  the  summer.  With  the  Gaper  {Anas- 
tomits  oscitans)  of  India  we  have  a  similar  case,  but  the 
colors  are  reversed ;  for  the  young  and  the  adults  of  both 
sexes  are  gray  and  black  during  the  winter,  the  adults  be- 
coming white  during  the  summer.*'  As  an  instance  of  the 
second  case,  the  young  of  the  razor-bill  {Alca  torda, 
Linn.),  in  an  early  state  of  plumage,  are  colored  like  the 
adults  during  the  summer ;  and  the  young  of  the  white- 
crowned  sparrow  of  North  America  {Fringilla  leuco- 
phri/s),  as  soon  as  fledged,  have  elegant  white  stripes  on 
their  heads,  which  are  lost  by  the  young  and  the  old  dur- 
ing the  winter.''*  With  respect  to  the  third  case,  namely, 
that  of  the  young  having  an  intermediate  character  be- 
tween the  summer  and  winter  adult  plumages,  Yarrell  " 
insists  that  this  occurs  with  many  waders.  Lastly,  in  re- 
gard to  the  young  differing  greatly  from  both  sexes  in 
their  adult  summer  and  winter  plumages,  this  occurs  with 
some  herons  and  egrets  of  North  America  and  India — the 
young  alone  being  white. 

I  will  make  only  a  few  remarks  on  these  complicated 
cases.  When  the  young  resemble  the  female  in  her  sum- 
mer dress,  or  the  adults  of  both  sexes  in  their  winter 
dress,  the  cases  differ  from  those  given  under  Classes  L 
and  III.  only  in  the  characters  originally  acquired  by  the 

■•*  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Blyth  for  information  in  regard  to  the 
Buphus :  see  also  Jerdon,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  iiL  p.  749.  On  the 
Anastomus,  see  Blyth,  in  'Ibis,'  1867,  p.  173. 

■"On  the  Alca,  see  Macgillivray,  'Hist.  Brit.  Birds,' vol  v.  p.  347. 
On  the  FringUla  Icucophrys,  Audubon,  ibid.  vol.  iL  p.  89.  I  shall  have 
hereafter  to  refer  to  the  young  of  certain  herons  and  egrets  being  white. 

«  'ffistory  of  British  Birds,'  vol.  i.  1839,  p.  159. 


Chap.  XVI.]     THE   YOUNG  LIKE  ADULTS  OF  SAME   SEX.   209 

males  during  the  breeding-season  having  been  limited  in 
their  transmission  to  the  corresponding  season.  When 
the  adults  have  a  distinct  summer  and  winter  plumage, 
and  the  young  difier  from  both,  the  case  is  more  difficult 
to  understand.  We  may  admit  as  probable  that  the 
young  have  retained  an  ancient  state  of  plumage ;  we  can 
account  through  sexual  selection  for  the  summer  or  nup- 
tial plumage  of  the  adults,  but  how  are  we  to  account  for 
their  distinct  winter  plumage  ?  K  we  could  admit  that 
this  plumage  serves  in  all  cases  as  a  protection,  its  ac- 
quirement would  be  a  simple  affair ;  but  there  seems  no 
good  reason  for  this  admission.  It  may  be  suggested  that 
the  widely-different  conditions  of  life  during  the  winter 
and  summer  have  acted  in  a  direct  manner  on  the  plu- 
mage ;  this  may  have  had  some  effect,  but  I  have  not 
much  confidence  in  so  great  a  difference,  as  we  sometimes 
see,  between  the  two  plumages  having  been  thus  caused, 
A  more  probable  explanation  is,  that  an  ancient  style  of 
plumage,  partially  modified  through  the  transference  of 
some  characters  from  the  summer  plumage,  has  been  re- 
tained by  the  adults  during  the  winter.  Finally,  all  the 
cases  in  our  present  class  apparently  depend  on  charac- 
ters acquired  by  the  adult  males,  having  been  variously 
limited  in  their  transmission  according  to  age,  season,  and 
sex ;  but  it  would  not  be  worth  while  to  attempt  to  fol- 
low out  these  complex  relations. 

Class  VI.  The  young  in  their  first  plumage  differ 
from  each  other  according  to  sex  /  the  young  males  re- 
sembling more  or  less  closely  the  adult  males,  and  the 
young  females  more  or  less  closely  the  adult  fem,ales. — 
The  cases  in  the  present  class,  though  occurring  in  vari- 
ous groups,  are  not  numerous ;  yet,  if  experience  had  not 
taught  us  to  the  contrary,  it  seems  the  most  natural  thing 
that  the  young  should  at  first  always  resemble  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  and  gradually  become  more  and  more  like,  the 


210  SEXUAL   SELECTION  :  BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

adults  of  the  same  sex.  The  adult  male  blackcap  {Sylvia 
atricapilla)  has  a  black  head,  that  of  the  female  being 
reddish-brown  ;  and  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Blyth  that 
the  young  of  both  sexes  can  be  distinguished  by  this 
character  even  as  nestlings.  In  the  family  of  thrushes  an 
unusual  number  of  similar  cases  have  been  noticed ;  the 
male  blackbird  {Turdus  menila)  can  be  distinguished  in 
the  nest  from  the  female,  as  the  main  wing-feathers,  which 
are  not  moulted  so  soon  as  the  body-feathers,  retain  a 
brownish  tint  until  the  second  general  moult."  The  two 
sexes  of  the  mocking-bird  [Turchis  2^oly(/lottus,  Linn.)  dif- 
fer very  little  from  each  other,  yet  the  males  can  easily 
be  distinguished  at  a  very  early  age  from  the  females  by 
showing  more  pure  white."  The  males  of  a  forest-thrush 
and  of  a  rock-thrush  (viz.,  Orocetes  erythrogastra  and  Pe- 
trocincla  cyanea)  have  much  of  their  plumage  of  a  fine 
blue,  while  the  females  are  brown ;  and  the  nestling  males 
of  both  species  have  their  main  wing  and  tail  feathers 
edged  with  blue,  while  those  of  the  female  are  edged  with 
brown."  So  that  the  very  same  feathers  which  in  the 
young  blackbird  assume  their  mature  character  and  be- 
come black  after  the  others,  in  these  two  species  assume 
this  character  and  become  blue  before  the  others.  The 
most  probable  view  with  reference  to  these  cases  is  that 
the  males,  differently  from  what  occurs  in  Class  I.,  have 
transmitted  their  colors  to  their  male  offspring  at  an  ear- 
lier age  than  that  at  which  they  themselves  first  acquired 
them;  for  if  they  had  varied  while  quite  young,  they 
would  probably  have  transmitted  all  their  characters  to 
their  offspring  of  both  sexes." 

<«  Blyth,  in  Charlesworth's  'Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  i.  1837,  p.  362; 
and  from  information  given  to  me  by  liim. 

*'  Audubon,  'Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  i.  p.  113. 

«  Mr.  C.  A.  Wright,  in  'Ibis,'  voL  vi.  1864,  p.  65.  Jerdon,  'Birds 
of  India,'  vol.  i.  p.  515. 

*'  The  following  additional  cases  may  be  mentioned  :  the  young  males 


Chap.  XVI.]    THE   YOUNG  LIKE  ADULTS  OF  SAME  SEX.    211 

In  Aithuriis  polytmus  (one  of  the  humming-birds)  the 
male  is  splendidly  colored  black  and  green,  and  two  of 
the  tail-feathers  are  immensely  lengthened;  the  female 
has  an  ordinary  tail  and  inconspicuous  colors ;  now  the 
young  males,  instead  of  resembling  the  adult  female,  in 
accordance  with  the  common  rule,  begin  from  the  first  to 
assume  the  colors  proper  to  their  sex,  and  their  tail-feath- 
ers soon  become  elongated.  I  owe  this  information  to 
Mr.  Gould,  who  has  given  me  the  following  more  striking 
and  as  yet  unpublished  case :  Two  humming-birds  be- 
longing to  the  genus  Eustephanus,  both  beautifully  col- 
ored, inhabit  the  small  island  of  Juan  Fernandez,  and 
have  always  been  i-anked  as  specifically  distinct.  But  it 
has  lately  been  ascertained  that  the  one,  which  is  of  a  rich 
chesnut-brown  color  with  a  golden-red  head,  is  the  male, 
while  the  other,  which  is  elegantly  variegated  with  green 
and  white,  with  a  metallic-green  head,  is  the  female.  Now 
the  young  from  the  first  resemble  to  a  certain  extent  the 
adults  of  the  corresponding  sex,  the  resemblance  gradu- 
ally becoming  more  and  more  complete. 

In  considering  this  last  case,  if  as  before  we  take  the 
plumage  of  the  young  as  our  guide,  it  would  appear  that 
both  sexes  have  been  independently  rendered  beautiful ; 
and  not  that  the  one  sex  has  partially  transferred  its 
beauty  to  the  other.  The  male  apparently  has  acquired 
his  bright  colors  through  sexual  selection  in  the  same  man- 
ner as,  for  instance,  the  peacock  or  pheasant  in  our  first 
class  of  cases ;  and  the  female  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
female  Rhynchsea  or  Turnix  in  our  second  class  of  cases. 
But  there  is  much  difficulty  in  understanding  how  this 

of  Tanagra  rubra  can  be  distinguished  from  the  young  females  (Audu- 
bon, '  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  iv.  p.  392),  and  so  it  is  with  the  nestlings 
of  a  blue  nuthatch,  Dendrophila  frontalis  of  India  ( Jerdon, '  Birds  of  India,' 
vol.  i.  p.  389).  Mr.  Blyth  also  informs  me  that  the  sexes  of  the  stone- 
chat,  Saxicola  rubicola,  are  distinguishable  at  a  very  early  age. 


212  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Pabt  XL 

could  have  been  effected  at  the  same  time  with  the  two 
sexes  of  the  same  species.  Mr.  Salvin  states,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  eighth  chapter,  that  with  certain  liumming- 
birds  the  males  greatly  exceed  in  number  the  females, 
while  with  other  species  inhabiting  the  same  country  the 
females  greatly  exceed  the  males.  If,  then,  we  might  as- 
sume that  during  some  former  lengthened  period  the  males 
of  the  Juan  Fernandez  species  had  greatly  exceeded  the 
females  in  number,  but  that  during  another  lengthened 
period  the  females  had  greatly  exceeded  the  males,  we 
could  understand  how  the  males  at  one  time,  and  the 
females  at  another  time,  might  have  been  rendered  beauti- 
ful by  the  selection  of  the  brighter-colored  individuals  of 
either  sex ;  both  sexes  transmitting  their  characters  to 
their  young  at  a  rather  earlier  age  than  usual.  Whether 
this  is  the  true  explanation  I  will  not  pretend  to  say ;  but 
the  case  is  too  remarkable  to  be  passed  over  without 
notice. 

We  have  now  seen  in  numerous  instances,  iinder  all 
six  classes,  that  an  intimate  relation  exists  between  the 
plumage  of  the  young  and  that  of  the  adults,  either  of  one 
sex  or  both  sexes.  These  relations  are  fairly  well  ex- 
plained on  the  principle  that  one  sex — this  being  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases  the  male — first  acquired  through 
variation  and  sexual  selection  bright  colors  or  other  orna- 
ments, and  transmitted  them  in  various  ways,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  recognized  laws  of  inheritance.  Why 
variations  have  occurred  at  different  periods  of  life,  even 
sometimes  with  the  species  of  tlie  same  group,  we  do  not 
know ;  but  with  respect  to  the  form  of  transmission,  one 
important  determining  cause  seems  to  have  been  tlie  age 
at  which  the  variations  first  appeared. 

From  the  principle  of  inheritance  at  corresponding 
ages,  and  from  any  variations  in  color  which  occurred  in  the 


Chap.  XVI.]  COLOR   AND   PROTECTION.  213 

males  at  an  early  age  not  being  then  selected,  on  the  con- 
trary being  often  eliminated  as  dangerous,  while  similar 
variations  occurring  at  or  near  the  period  of  reproduction 
have  been  preserved,  it  follows  that  the  plumage  of  the 
young  will  often  have  been  left  unmodified,  or  but  little 
modified.  We  thus  get  some  insight  into  the  coloring  of 
the  progenitors  of  our  existing  species.  In  a  vast  number 
of  species,  in  five  out  of  our  six  classes  of  cases,  the  adults 
of  one  sex  or  both  are  brightly  colored,  at  least  during 
the  breeding-season,  while  the  young  are  invariably  less 
brightly  colored  than  the  adults,  or  are  quite  dull-colored  ; 
for  no  instance  is  known,  as  far  as  I  can  discover,  of  the 
young  of  dull-colored  species  displaying  bright  colors,  or 
of  the  young  of  brightly-colored  species  being  more  bril- 
liantly colored  than  tbeir  parents.  In  the  fourth  class, 
however,  in  which  the  young  and  the  old  resemble  each 
other,  there  are  many  species  (though  by  no  means  all) 
brightly-colored,  and  as  these  form  whole  groups  we  may 
infer  that  their  early  progenitors  were  likewise  brightly- 
colored.  With  this  exception,  if  we  look  to  the  birds  of 
the  world,  it  appears  that  their  beauty  has  been  greatly 
increased  since  that  period,  of  which  we  have  a  partial 
record  in  their  immature  plumage. 

O71  the  Color  of  the  Plumage  hi  relation  to  Protection. 
— ^It  will  have  been  seen  that  I  cannot  follow  Mr.  Wallace 
in  the  belief  that  dull  colors  when  confined  to  the  females 
have  been  in  most  cases  specially  gained  for  the  sake  of 
protection.  There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt,  as  formerly 
remarked,  that  both  sexes  of  many  birds  have  had  their 
colors  modified  for  this  purpose,  so  as  to  escape  the  notice 
of  their  enemies;  or,  in  some  instances,  so  as  to  approach 
their  prey  unobserved,  in  the  same  manner  as  owls  have 
had  their  plumage  rendered  soft,  that  their  flight  may  not 
be  overheard.  Mr.  Wallace  remarks^"  that  "  it  is  only  in 
^'^  'Westminster  Review,'  July,  ISC'?,  p.  5. 


2U  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  II. 

the  tropics,  among  forests  that  never  lose  their  foliage,  that 
we  find  whole  groups  of  hirds  whose  chief  color  is  green." 
It  will  be  admitted  by  every  one,  who  has  ever  tried,  how 
difficult  it  is  to  distinguish  parrots  in  a  leaf-covered  tree. 
Nevertheless,  we  must  remember  that  many  parrots  are 
ornamented  with  crimson,  blue,  and  orange  tints,  which 
can  hardly  be  protective.  Woodpeckers  are  eminently 
arboreal,  but,  besides  green  species,  there  are  many  black 
and  black-and-white  kinds — all  the  species  being  appar- 
ently exposed  to  nearly  the  same  dangers.  It  is  there- 
fore probable  that  strongly-pronounced  colors  have  been 
acquired  by  tree-haunting  birds  through  sexual  selection, 
but  that  green  tints  have  had  an  advantage  throiagh  nat- 
ural selection  over  other  colors  for  the  sake  of  protection. 
In  regard  to  birds  which  live  on  the  ground,  every  one 
admits  that  they  are  colored  so  as  to  imitate  the  surround- 
ing surface.  How  difficult  it  is  to  see  a  partridge,  snipe, 
woodcock,  certain  plovers,  larks,  and  night-jars,  when 
crouched  on  the  ground  !  Animals  inhabiting  deserts  offi'r 
the  most  striking  instances,  for  the  bare  surface  affijrds  no 
concealment,  and  all  the  smaller  quadrupeds,  reptiles,  and 
birds,  depend  for  safety  on  their  colors.  As  Mr.  Tristram 
has  remarked,^'  in  regard  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Saha- 
ra, all  are  protected  by  their  "  isabelline  or  sand-color." 
Calling  to  my  recollection  the  desert-birds  which  I  had 
seen  in  South  America,  as  well  as  most  of  the  ground- 
birds  in  Great  Britain,  it  appeared  to  me  that  both  sexes 
in  such  cases  are  generally  colored  nearly  alike.  Ac- 
cordingly, I  applied  to  Mr.  Tristram,  with  respect  to  the 
birds  of  the  Sahara,  and  he  lias  kindly  given  me  the  fol- 
lowing information :  There  are  twenty-six  species,  belong- 
ing to  fifteen  genera,  which  manifestly  have  had  their 
plumage  colored  in  a  protective  manner;  and  this  coloring 
is  all  the  more  striking,  as  with  most  of  these  birds  it  is 

"'  '  Ibi.'^,'  1859,  vol.  i.  p.  429,  et  acq. 


Chap.  XVI.]  COLOR  AND   PROTECTION.  215 

different  from  that  of  their  congeners.  Both  sexes  of  thir- 
teen out  of  the  twenty-six  species  are  colored  in  the  same 
manner ;  but  these  belong  to  genera  in  which  this  rule 
commonly  prevails,  so  that  they  tell  us  nothing  about  the 
protective  colors  being  the  same  in  both  sexes  of  desert- 
birds.  Of  the  other  thirteen  species,  three  belong  to 
genera  in  which  the  sexes  usually  differ  from  each  other, 
yet  they  have  the  sexes  alike.  In  the  remaining  ten  spe- 
cies, the  male  differs  fi-om  the  female ;  but  the  difference 
is  confined  chiefly  to  the  under  surface  of  the  plumage, 
which  is  concealed  when  the  bird  crouches  on  the  ground, 
the  head  and  back  being  of  the  same  sand-colored  hue  in 
both  sexes.  So  that  in  these  ten  species  the  upper  surfaces 
of  both  sexes  have  been  acted  on  and  rendered  alike, 
through  natural  selection,  for  the  sake  of  protection ; 
while  the  lower  surfaces  of  the  males  alone  have  been 
diversified  through  sexual  selection,  for  the  sake  of  orna- 
ment. Here,  as  both  sexes  are  equally  well  protected,  we 
clearly  see  that  the  females  have  not  been  prevented 
through  natural  selection  from  inheriting  the  colors  of 
their  male  parents :  we  must  look  to  the  law  of  sexually- 
limited  transmission,  as  before  explained. 

In  all  parts  of  the  world  both  sexes  of  many  soft-billed 
birds,  especially  those  which  frequent  reeds  or  sedges,  are 
obscurely  colored.  No  doubt,  if  their  colors  had  been 
brilliant,  they  would  have  been  much  more  conspicuous  to 
their  enemies ;  but  whether  their  dull  tints  have  been  spe- 
cially gained  for  the  sake  of  protection  seems,  as  far  as  I 
can  judge,  rather  doubtful.  It  is  still  more  doubtful 
whether  such  dull  tints  can  have  been  gained  for  the  sake 
of  ornament.  We  must,  however,  bear  in  mind  that  male 
birds,  though  dull-colored,  often  differ  much  from  their 
females,  as  with  the  common  sparrow,  and  this  leads  to 
tlie  belief  that  such  colors  have  been  gained  through  sex- 
ual selection,  from  being  attractive.     Many  of  the  soft- 


216  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  H. 

billed  birds  are  songsters ;  and  a  discussioTi  in  a  former 
chapter  should  not  be  forgotten,  in  which  it  was  shown 
that  the  best  songsters  are  rarely  ornamented  with  bright 
tints.  It  would  appear  that  female  birds,  as  a  general 
rule,  have  selected  their  mates  either  for  their  sweet  voices 
or  gay  colors,  but  not  for  both  charms  combined.  Some 
species  which  are  manifestly  colored  for  the  sake  of  pro- 
tection, such  as  the  jack-snipe,  woodcock,  and  night-jar, 
are  likewise  marked  and  shaded,  according  to  our  stand- 
ard of  taste,  with  extreme  elegance.  In  such  cases  we 
may  conclude  that  both  natural  and  sexual  selection  have 
acted  conjointly  for  protection  and  ornament.  Whether 
any  bird  exists  which  does  not  possess  some  special  at- 
traction, by  which  to  charm  the  opposite  sex,  may  be 
doubted.  When  both  sexes  are  so  obscurely  colored,  that 
it  would  be  rash  to  assume  the  agency  of  sexual  selection, 
and  when  no  direct  evidence  can  be  advanced  showing 
that  such  colors  serve  as  a  protection,  it  is  best  to  own 
complete  ignorance  of  the  cause,  or,  which  comes  to  nearly 
the  same  thing,  to  attribute  the  result  to  the  direct  action 
of  the  conditions  of  life. 

There  are  many  birds  both  sexes  of  which  are  conspic- 
uously thougli  not  brilliantly  colored,  such  as  the  numer- 
ous black,  white,  or  piebald  species ;  and  these  colors  are 
])robably  the  result  of  sexual  selection.  With  the  common 
blackbird,  capercailzie,  black-cock,  black  Scoter-duck  (Oi- 
demia),  and  even  with  one  of  the  Birds  of  Paradise 
{Lophorina  atra),  the  males  alone  are  black,  while  the 
females  are  brown  or  mottled ;  and  there  can  hardly  be  a 
doubt  that  blackness  in  these  cases  has  been  a  sexually- 
selected  character.  Therefore  it  is  in  some  degree  proba- 
ble that  the  complete  or  partial  blackness  of  botli  sexes 
in  such  birds  as  crows,  certain  cockatoos,  storks,  and 
swans,  and  many  marine  birds,  is  likewise  the  result  of 
sexual  selection,  accompanied    by  equal  transmission   to 


Chap.  XVI.]  CONSPICUOUS   COLORS.  217 

both  sexes ;  for  blackness  can  hardly  serve  in  any  case  as 
a  protection.  With  several  birds,  in  which  the  male  alone 
is  black,  and  in  others  in  which  both  sexes  are  black,  the 
beak  or  skin  about  the  head  is  brightly  colored,  and  the 
contrast  thus  afforded  adds  greatly  to  their  beauty ;  we 
see  this  in  the  bright-yellow  beak  of  the  male  blackbird, 
in  the  crimson  skin  over  the  eyes  of  the  black-cock  and 
capercailzie,  in  the  variously  and  brightly  colored  beak 
of  the  Scoter-drake  (Oidemia),  in  the  red  beak  of  the 
chough  [Corvus  graculus,  Linn.),  of  the  black  swan,  and 
black  stork.  This  leads  me  to  remark  that  it  is  not  at  all 
incredible  that  toucans  may  owe  the  enormous  size  of 
their  beaks  to  sexual  selection,  for  the  sake  of  displaying 
the  diversified  and  vivid  stripes  of  color  with  which  these 
organs  are  ornamented."  The  naked  skin  at  the  base  of 
the  beak  and  round  the  eyes  is  likewise  often  brilliantly 
colored ;  and  Mr.  Gould,  in  speaking  of  one  species,^^  says 
that  the  colors  of  the  beak  "  are  doubtless  in  the  finest 
and  most  brilliant  state  during  the  the  time  of  pairing," 
There  is  no  greater  improbability  in  toucans  being  encum- 
Tsered  with  immense  beaks,  though  rendered  as  light  as 
possible  by  their  cancellated  structure,  for  an  object  false- 
ly appearing  to  us  unimportant,  namely,  the  display  of 
fine  colors,  than  that  the  male  Argus  pheasant  and  some 

^'  No  satisfactory  explanation  has  ever  been  offered  of  the  immense 
size,  and  still  less  of  the  bright  colors,  of  the  toucan's  beak.  Mr.  Bates 
('The  Naturalist  on  the  Amazons,'  vol.  ii.  1863,  p.  341)  states  that  they 
use  their  beak  for  reaching  fruit  at  the  extreme  tips  of  the  branches ; 
and  likewise,  as  stated  by  other  authors,  for  extracting  eggs  and  young 
birds  from  the  nests  of  other  birds.  But,  as  Mr.  Bates  admits,  the  beak 
"  can  scarcely  be  considered  a  very  perfectly-formed  instrument  for  the 
end  to  which  it  is  applied."  The  great  bulk  of  the  beak,  as  shown  by 
its  breadth,  depth,  as  well  as  length,  is  not  intelligible  on  the  view  that 
it  serves  merely  as  an  organ  of  prehension. 

^3  Ramphastos  carinatus,  Gould's  '  Monograph  of  Ramphastidae.' 
29 


218  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

otlier  birds  sliould  be  encumbered  with  plumes  so  long  as 
to  impede  tlieir  flight. 

In  the  same  manner,  as  the  males  alone  of  various  spe- 
cies are  black,  the  females  being  dull-colored ;  so  in  a  few 
cases  the  males  alone  are  either  wholly  or  partially  white, 
as  with  the  several  Bell-birds  of  South  America  (Chasmo- 
rhynchus),  the  Antarctic  goose  [Bernicla  antarctica),  the 
silver-pheasant,  etc.,  while  the  females  are  brown  or  ob- 
scurely mottled.  Therefore,  on  the  same  principle  as 
before,  it  is  prol)able  that  both  sexes  of  many  birds,  such 
as  white  cockatoos,  several  egrets  with  their  beautiful 
plumes,  certain  ibises,  gulls,  terns,  etc.,  have  acquired 
their  more  or  less  completely  white  2)lumage  through  sex- 
ual selection.  The  species  which  inhabit  snowy  regions 
of  course  come  under  a  different  head.  The  white  plu- 
mage of  some  of  the  above-named  birds  appears  in  both 
sexes  only  when  they  are  mature.  This  is  likewise  the 
case  with  certain  gannets,  tropic-birds,  etc.,  and  with  the 
snow-goose  (Anser  hyperhorens).  As  the  latter  breeds  on 
the  "  barren  grounds,"  when  not  covered  with  snow,  and 
as  it  migrates  southward  during  the  winter,  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  its  snow-white  adult  plumage 
serves  as  a  protection.  In  the  case  of  the  Anastomtis 
oscitans  previously  alluded  to,  we  have  still  better  evi- 
dence that  the  white  plumage  is  a  nuptial  character,  for  it 
is  developed,  only  during  the  summer ;  the  young  in  their 
immature  state,  and  the  adults  in  their  winter  dress,  being 
gray  and  black.  With  many  kinds  of  gulls  (Larus),  the 
head  and.  neck  become  pure  white  during  the  summer, 
being  gray  or  mottled  during  the  winter  and  in  the  young 
state.  On  the  other  hand,  Avith  the  smaller  gulls,  or  sea- 
mews  (Gavia),  and  with  some  terns  (Sterna),  exactly  the 
reverse  occurs ;  for  the  heads  of  the  young  birds  during 
the  first  year,  and  of  the  adults  during  the  winter,  are 
either  pui'e  white,  or  much  paler-colored  than  during  the 


Chap.  XVI.]  CONSPICUOUS   COLORS.  219 

breeding-season.  These  latter  cases  offer  another  instance 
of  the  capricious  manner  in  which  sexual  selection  appears 
often  to  have  acted," 

The  cause  of  aquatic  birds  having  acquired  a  white 
plumage  so  much  more  frequently  than  terrestrial  birds, 
probably  depends  on  their  large  size  and  strong  powers 
of  flight,  so  that  they  can  easily  defend  themselves  or  es- 
cape from  birds  of  prey,  to  which,  moreoA^er,  they  are  not 
much  exposed.  Consequently  sexual  selection  has  not 
here  been  interfered  with  or  guided  for  the  sake  of  pro- 
tection. No  doubt,  with  birds  which  roam  over  the  oj:)en 
ocean,  the  males  and  females  could  find  each  other  much 
more  easily  when  made  conspicuous  either  by  being  per- 
fectly white,  or  intensely  black  ;  so  that  these  colors  may 
possible  serve  the  same  end  as  the  call-notes  of  many  land- 
birds.  A  white  or  black  bird,  when  it  discovers  and  flies 
doAvn  to  a  carcass  floating  on  the  sea  or  cast  up  on  the 
beach,  will  be  seen  from  a  great  distance,  and  will  guide 
other  birds  of  the  same  and  of  distinct  species,  to  the 
prey ;  but  as  this  would  be  a  disadvantage  to  the  first 
finders,  the  individuals  which  were  the  wliitest  or  blackest 
would  not  thus  have  procured  more  food  than  the  less 
strongly  colored  individuals.  Hence  conspicuous  colors 
cannot  have  been  gradually  acquired  for  this  purpose 
through  natural  selection.*^ 

As  sexual  selection  depends  on  so  fluctuating  an  ele- 

^  On  Larus,  Gavia,  and  Sterna,  see  Macgillivray,  '  Hist.  Brit.  Birds,' 
vol.  V.  pp.  515,  584,  626.  On  the  Anser  hyperboreus,  Audubon, '  Ornith. 
Biography,'  vol.  iv.  p.  562.  On  the  Anastomus,  Mr.  Blyth,  in  '  Ibis,' 
1867,  p.  173. 

^^  It  may  be  noticed  that  with  vultures,  which  roam  far  and  wide 
through  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  like  marine  birds  over 
the  ocean,  three  or  four  species  are  almost  wholly  or  largely  white,  and 
many  other  species  are  black.  This  fact  supports  the  conjecture  that 
these  conspicuous  colors  may  aid  the  sexes  in  finding  each  Other  during 
the  breeding-season. 


220  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Pakt  IL 

ment  as  taste,  we  can  understand  how  it  is  that  within  the 
same  group  of  birds,  with  habits  of  life  nearly  the  same, 
there  should  exist  white  or  nearly  white,  as  well  as  black, 
or  nearly  black  species — for  instance,  white  and  black 
cockatoos,  storks,  ibises,  swans,  terns,  and  petrels.  Pie- 
bald birds  likewise  sometimes  occur  in  the  same  groups, 
for  instance,  the  black-necked  swan,  certain  terns,  and  the 
common  magpie.  That  a  strong  contrast  in  color  is  agree- 
able to  birds,  we  may  conclude,  by  looking  through  any 
large  collection  of  specimens  or  series  of  colored  plates, 
for  the  sexes  frequently  differ  from  each  other  in  the  male 
having  the  pale  parts  of  a  purer  white,  and  the  variously- 
colored  dark  parts  of  still  darker  tints  than  in  the  female. 

It  would  even  appear  that  mere  novelty,  or  change  for 
the  sake  of  change,  has  sometimes  acted  like  a  charm  on 
female  birds,  in  the  same  manner  as  changes  of  fashion 
with  us.  The  Duke  of  Argyll  says  ^^ — and  I  am  glad  to 
have  the  unusual  satisfaction  of  following  for  even  a  short 
distance  in  his  footsteps — "I  am  more  and  more  convinced 
that  variety,  mere  variety,  must  be  admitted  to  be  an  ob- 
ject and  an  aim  in  Nature."  I  wish  the  Duke  had  ex- 
plained what  he  here  means  by  Nature.  Is  it  meant  that 
the  Creator  of  the  universe  ordained  diversified  results  for 
His  own  satisfaction,  or  for  that  of  man?  The  former  no- 
tion seems  to  me  as  much  wanting  in  due  reverence  as  the 
latter  in  probability.  Capriciousness  of  taste  in  the  birds 
themselves  appears  a  more  fitting  explanation.  For  ex- 
ample :  the  males  of  some  parrots  can  hardly  be  said  to 
be  more  beautiful,  at  least  according  to  our  taste,  than  the 
females,  but  they  differ  from  them  in  such  points  as  the 
male  having  a  rose-colored  collar  instead  of,  as  in  the  fe- 
male, "a  bright  emeraldine  narrow  green  collar;"  or  in 
the  male  having  a  black  collar  instead  of  "  a  yellow  dcnii- 
collar  in  front,"  with  a  pale  roseate  instead  of  a  plum-blue 

'«  'The  Journal  of  Travel,'  edited  by  A.  Murray,  vol.  i.  1868,  p.  286. 


Chap.  XVI.]  NOVELTY   ADMIRED.  221 

head."  As  so  many  male  birds  have  for  their  chief  orna- 
ment elongated  tail-feathers  or  elongated  crests,  the  short- 
ened tail,  formerly  described  in  the  male  of  a  humming- 
bird, and  the  shortened  crest  of  the  male  goosander  almost 
seem  like  one  of  the  many  opposite  changes  of  fashion 
which  we  admire  in  our  own  dresses. 

Some  members  of  the  heron  family  offer  a  still  more 
curious  case  of  novelty  in  coloring  having  apparently  been 
appreciated  for  the  sake  of  novelty.  The  young  of  the 
Ardea  asha  are  white,  the  adults  being  dark  slate-colored ; 
and  not  only  the  young,  but  the  adults  of  the  allied  JBuphus 
coromandus  in  their  winter  plumage  are  white,  this  color 
changing  into  a  rich  golden-buff  during  the  breeding-sea- 
son. It  is  incredible  that  the  young  of  these  two  species, 
as  well  as  of  some  other  members  of  the  same  family,^® 
should  have  been  specially  rendered  pure  white  and  thus 
made  conspicuous  to  their  enemies  ;  or  that  the  adults  of 
one  of  these  two  species  should  have  been  specially  ren- 
dered white  during  the  winter  in  a  country  which  is  never 
covered  with  snow.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  reason 
to  believe  that  whiteness  has  been  gained  by  many  birds 
as  a  sexual  ornament.  We  may  therefore  conclude  that 
an  early  progenitor  of  the  Ardea  asha  and  the  Huplius 
acquired  a  white  plumage  for  nuptial  purposes,  and  trans- 
mitted this  color  to  their  young ;  so  that  the  young  and 
the  old  became  white  like  certain  existing  egrets ;  the 
whiteness  having  afterward  been  retained  by  the  young 
while  exchanged   by  the   adults  for   more   strongly-pro- 

"  See  Jerdon  on  the  genus  Palieornis,  '  Birds  of  India,'  vol.  i.  pp. 
258-260. 

^^  The  young  of  Ardea  rufesce)is  and  A.  ccerulea  of  the  United  States 
are  likewise  white,  the  adults  being  colored  in  accordance  with  their  spe- 
cific names.  Audubon  ('  Ornith.  Biography,'  vol.  iii.  p.  416 ;  vol.  iv.  p. 
88)  seems  rather  pleased  at  the  thought  that  this  remarkable  change  of 
plumage  will  greatly  "  disconcert  the  systematists." 


222  SEXUAL   SELECTION:  BIRDS.  [Paut  II. 

nouuccd  tints.  But  if  we  could  look  still  further  back- 
Avanl  in  time  to  the  still  earlier  progenitors  of  these  two 
species,  we  should  probably  see  the  adults  dark-colored. 
I  infer  that  this  would  be  the  case,  from  the  analogy  of 
many  other  birds,  which  are  dark  while  young,  and  when 
adult  are  white ;  and  more  especially  from  the  case  of  the 
Ardea  gularts,  the  colors  of  whicli  are  the  reverse  of  those 
of  A.  as/ia,  for  the  young  are  dark-colored  and  the  adults 
white,  the  young  having  retained  a  former  state  of  plu- 
mage. It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  progenitors  in  their 
adult  condition  of  the  Ardea  asha,  the  Jiiq)hus,  and  of 
some  allies,  have  undergone,  during  a  long  line  of  descent, 
the  following  changes  of  color:  firstly  a  dark  shade,  sec- 
ondly pure  white,  and  thirdly,  owing  to  another  change 
of  fashion  (if  I  may  so  express  myself),  their  present  slaty, 
reddish,  or  golden-biiff  tints.  These  successive  changes 
are  intelligible  only  on  the  principle  of  novelty  having 
been  admired  by  birds  for  the  sake  of  novelty. 

JSummary  of  the  Mwr  Chapters  on  Birds. — Most  male 
birds  are  highly  pugnacious  during  the  breeding-season, 
and  some  possess  weapons  especially  adapted  for  fighting 
with  their  rivals.  But  the  most  pugnacious  and  the  best- 
armed  males  rarely  or  never  depend  for  success  solely  on 
their  power  to  di'ive  away  or  kill  their  rivals,  but  have 
special  means  for  charming  the  female.  With  some  it  is 
the  power  of  song,  or  of  emitting  strange  cries,  or  of  pro- 
ducing instrumental  music,  and  the  males  in  consequence 
difier  from  the  females  in  their  vocal  organs,  or  in  the 
structure  of  certain  feathers.  From  the  curiously-diversi- 
fied means  for  producing  various  sounds  we  gain  a  high 
idea  of  the  importance  of  this  means  of  courtship.  Many 
birds  endeavor  to  charm  the  females  by  love-dances  or 
antics,  performed  on  the  ground  or  in  the  air,  and  some- 
times at  prepared  places.     But  ornaments  of  many  kinds, 


Chap.  XVI.]  SUMMARY.  -  223 

the  most  brilliant  tints,  combs  and  wattles,  beautiful 
plumes,  elongated  feathers,  top-knots,  and  so  forth,  are  by 
far  the  commonest  means.  In  some  cases  mere  novelty 
appears  to  have  acted  as  a  charm.  The  ornaments  of  the 
males  must  be  highly  important  to  them,  for  they  have 
been  acquired  in  not  a  few  cases  at  the  cost  of  increased 
danger  from  enemies,  and  even  at  some  loss  of  power  in 
fighting  with  their  rivals.  The  males  of  very  many  spe- 
cies do  not  assume  their  ornamental  dress  until  they  ar- 
rive at  maturity,  or  they  assume  it  only  during  the  breed- 
ing-season, or  the  tints  then  become  more  vivid.  Certain 
ornamental  appendages  become  enlarged,  turgid,  and 
bright-colored,  during  the  very  act  of  courtship.  The 
males  display  their  charms  with  elaborate  care  and  to  the 
best  effect ;  and  this  is  done  in  the  presence  of  the  females. 
The  courtship  is  sometimes  a  prolonged  affiiir,  and  many 
males  and  females  congregate  at  an  appointed  place.  To 
suppose  that  the  females  do  not  appreciate  the  beauty  of 
the  males  is  to  admit  that  their  splendid  decorations,  all 
their  pomp  and  display,  are  useless  ;  and  this  is  incredible. 
Birds  have  fine  powers  of  discrimination,  and  in  some  few 
instances  it  can  be  shown  that  they  have  a  taste  for  the 
beautiful.  The  females,  moreover,  are  known  occasionally 
to  exhibit  a  marked  preference  or  antipathy  for  cei'tain  in- 
dividual males. 

If  it  be  admitted  that  the  females  prefer,  or  are  uncon- 
sciously excited  by,  the  more  beautiful  males,  then  the 
males  would  slowly  but  surely  be  rendered  more  and  more 
attractive  through  sexual  selection.  That  it  is  this  sex 
which  has  been  chiefly  modified  we  may  infer  from  the 
fact  that  in  almost  every  genus  in  which  the  sexes  differ, 
the  males  differ  much  more  from  each  other  than  do  the 
females  ;  this  is  well  shown  in  certain  closely-allied  repre- 
sentative species  in  which  the  females  can  hardly  be  dis- 
tinguished, while  the  males  are  quite  distinct.     Birds  in  a 


224  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Part  IL 

state  of  nature  offer  individual  differences  which  would 
am])ly  suffice  for  the  work  of  sexual  selection ;  but  we 
have  seen  that  they  occasionally  present  more  strongly- 
marked  variations,  which  recur  so  frequeutly  that  they 
would  immediately  be  fixed,  if  they  served  to  allure  the 
fenuile.  The  laws  of  variation  will  have  determined  the 
nature  of  the  initial  changes,  and  largely  influenced  the 
final  result.  The  gradations,  which  may  be  observed  be- 
tween the  males  of  allied  species,  indicate  the  nature  of 
the  steps  which  have  been  passed  through,  and  explain  in 
the  most  interesting  manner  certain  characters,  such  as 
the  indented  ocelli  of  the  tail-feathers  of  the  peacock,  and 
the  wonderfully-shaded  ocelli  of  the  wing-feathers  of  the 
Argus  pheasant.  It  is  evident  that  the  brilliant  colors, 
top-knots,  fine  plumes,  etc.,  of  many  male  birds  cannot 
have  been  acquired  as  a  protection  ;  indeed,  they  some- 
times lead  to  danger.  That  they  are  not  due  to  the  direct 
and  definite  action  of  the  conditions  of  life,  we  may  feel 
assured,  because  the  females  have  been  exposed  to  the 
same  conditions,  and  yet  often  differ  from  the  males  to  an 
extreme  degree.  Although  it  is  probable  that  changed 
conditions  acting  during  a  lengthened  period  have  pro- 
duced some  definite  effect  on  both  sexes,  the  more  impor- 
tant result  will  have  been  an  increased  tendency  to  fluc- 
tuating variability  or  to  augmented  individual  dift'erences  ; 
and  such  differences  will  have  afforded  an  excellent  ground- 
work for  the  action  of  sexual  selection. 

The  laws  of  inheritance,  irrespectively  of  selection, 
appear  to  have  determined  whether  the  chai-acters  ac- 
quired by  the  males  for  the  sake  of  ornament,  for  pro- 
ducing various  sounds,  and  for  fighting  together,  have 
been  transmitted  to  the  males  alone  or  to  both  sexes,  either 
permanently  or  periodically  during  certain  seasons  of  the 
year.  Why  various  characters  should  sometimes  have 
been  transmitted  in  one  way  and  sometimes  in  another  is, 


Chap.  XVI.]  SUMMARY.  225 

in  most  cases,  not  known  ;  but  the  period  of  variability 
seems  often  to  have  been  the  determining  cause.  Wlien 
the  two  sexes  have  inherited  all  characters  in  common 
they  necessarily  resemble  each  other ;  but,  as  the  suc- 
cessive variations  may  be  diiferently  transmitted,  every 
possible  gradation  may  be  found,  even  within  the  same 
genus,  from  the  closest  similarity  to  the  widest  dissimi- 
larity between  the  sexes.  With  many  closely-allied  spe- 
cies, following  nearly  the  same  habits  of  life,  the  males 
have  come  to  differ  from  each  other  chiefly  through  the 
action  of  sexual  selection  ;  while  the  females  have  come  to 
differ  chiefly  from  partaking  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree 
of  the  characters  thus  acquired  by  the  males.  The  efiects, 
moi'eover,  of  the  definite  action  of  the  conditions  of  life, 
will  not  have  been  masked  in  the  females,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  males,  by  the  accumulation  through  sexual  selection 
of  strongly-pronounced  colors  and  other  ornaments.  The 
individuals  of  both  sexes,  however  aftected,  will  have  been 
kept  at  each  successive  period  nearly  uniform  by  the  free 
intercrossing  of  many  individuals. 

With  the  sjiecies,  in  which  the  sexes  differ  in  color, 
it  is  possible  that  at  first  there  existed  a  tendency  to 
transmit  the  successive  variations  equally  to  both  sexes ; 
and  that  the  females  were  prevented  from  acquu-ing  the 
bright  coloi-s  of  the  males,  on  account  of  the  danger  to 
which  they  would  have  been  exposed  during  incubation. 
But  it  would  be,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  an  extremely  difiicult 
process  to  convert,  by  means  of  natural  selection,  one  form 
of  transmission  into  another.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
would  not  be  the  least  difliculty  in  rendering  a  female 
dull-colored,  the  male  being  still  kept  bright-colored,  by 
the  selection  of  successive  variations,  which  were  from  the 
first  limited  in  their  transmission  to  the  same  sex.  Whether 
the  females  of  many  species  have  actually  been  thus  modi- 
fied, must  at  present  remain  doubtful.     When,  through 


220  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   BIRDS.  [Pakt  IL 

the  law  of  the  equal  transmission  of  characters  to  both 
sexes,  the  females  have  been  rendered  as  conspicuously 
colored  as  the  males,  their  instincts  have  often  been  modi- 
fied, and  they  have  been  led  to  build  domed  or  concealed 
nests. 

In  one  small  and  curious  class  of  cases  the  characters 
and  habits  of  the  two  sexes  have  been  completely  trans- 
posed, for  the  females  are  larger,  stronger,  more  vociferous, 
and  brightly-colored  than  the  males.  They  liave,  also, 
become  so  quarrelsome  that  they  often  fight  together  like 
the  males  of  the  most  pugnacious  species.  K,  as  seems 
probable,  they  habitually  drive  away  rival  females,  and 
by  the  display  of  their  bright  colors  or  other  charms  en- 
deavor to  attract  the  males,  we  can  understand  how  it  is 
that  they  have  gradually  been  rendered,  by  means  of  sex- 
ual selection  and  sexually-limited  transmission,  more  beau- 
tiful than  the  males — the  latter  being  left  unmodified  or 
only  slightly  modified. 

Whenever  the  law  of  inheritance  at  corresponding 
ages  prevails,  but  not  that  of  sexually-limited  transmission, 
then  if  the  parents  vary  late  in  life — and  we  know  that 
this  constantly  occurs  with  our  poultry,  and  occasionally 
Avith  other  birds — the  young  will  bo  left  unaflt'Ctod,  while 
the  adults  of  both  sexes  will  be  modified.  If  both  these 
laws  of  inheritance  prevail  and  either  sex  varies  late  in 
life,  that  sex  alone  will  be  modified,  the  other  sex  and  the 
young  being  left  unaSected.  When  variations  in  bright- 
ness or  in  other  conspicuous  characters  occur  early  in  life, 
as  no  doubt  often  happens,  they  will  not  be  acted  on 
through  sexual  selection  until  the  period  of  reproduction 
arrives ;  consequently,  if  dangerous  to  the  young,  they 
will  be  eliminated  through  natural  selection.  Thus  we 
can  understand  how  it  is  that  variations  arising  late  in 
life  have  so  often  been  preserved  for  the  ornamentation 
of  the  males,  the  females  and  the  young  being  left  almost 


Chap.  XVI.]  SUMMARY.  237 

unaffected,  and  therefore  like  each  other.  With  species 
having  a  distinct  summer  and  winter  phimage,  the  males 
of  which  either  resemble  or  differ  from  the  females  during 
hoth  seasons  or  during  the  summer  alone,  the  degrees  and 
kinds  of  resemblance  between  the  young  and  the  old  are 
exceedingly  complex ;  and  this  complexity  apparently 
depends  on  characters,  first  acquired  by  the  males,  being 
transmitted  in  various  ways  and  degrees,  as  limited  by 
age,  sex,  and  season. 

As  the  young  of  so  many  species  have  been  but  little 
modified  in  color  and  in  other  ornaments,  we  are  enabled 
to  form  some  judgment  with  respect  to  the  plumage  of 
their  early  progenitors ;  and  we  may  infer  that  the  beauty 
of  our  existing  species,  if  we  look  to  the  whole  class,  has 
been  largely  increased  since  that  period  of  which  the  im- 
mature plumage  gives  us  an  indirect  record.  Many  birds, 
especially  those  which  live  much  on  the  ground,  have  un- 
doubtedly been  obscurely  colored  for  the  sake  of  protec- 
tion. In  some  instances  the  upper  exposed  surface  of  the 
plumage  has  been  thus  colored  in  both  sexes,  while  the 
lower  surface  in  the  males  alone  has  been  variously  orna- 
mented through  sexual  selection.  Finally,  from  the  facts 
given  in  these  four  chapters,  we  may  conclude  that  weap- 
ons for  battle,  organs  for  producing  sound,  ornaments  of 
many  kinds,  bright  and  conspicuous  colors,  have  gener- 
ally been  acquired  by  the  males  through  variation  and 
sexual  selection,  and  have  been  transmitted  in  various 
ways  according  to  the  several  laws  of  inheritance — the  fe- 
males and  the  young  being  left  comparatively  but  little 
modified.  ^^ 

^'  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Sclater  for  having 
looked  over  these  four  chapters  on  birds,  and  the  two  following  ones  on 
mammals.  By  this  means  I  have  been  saved  from  making  mistakes  about 
the  names  of  the  species,  and  from  giving  any  facts  which  are  actually 
known  to  this  distinguished  naturalist  to  be  erroneous.  But  of  course 
he  is  not  at  all  answerable  for  the  accuracy  of  the  statements  quoted  by 
me  from  various  authorities. 


228  BEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Pabt  H 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Secondary  Sexual  Chakactees  op  Ma^imals. 

The  Law  of  Battle. — Special  "Weapons,  confined  to  the  Males. — Cause  of 
Absence  of  Weapon.s  in  the  Female. — Weapons  common  to  both 
Se.xes,  yet  primarily  acquired  by  the  Male. — Other  Uses  of  such  Weap- 
ons.— Their  High  Importance. — Greater  Size  of  the  Male. — Means  of 
Defence. — On  the  Preference  shown  by  either  Sex  in  the  Pairing  of 
Quadrupeds. 

With  mammals  the  male  appears  to  win  the  female 
much  more  through  the  law  of  battle  than  through  the 
display  of  his  charms.  The  most  timid  animals,  not  pro- 
vided with  any  special  weapons  for  figlitinp;,  engage  in 
desperate  conflicts  during  the  season  of  love.  Two  male 
hares  have  been  seen  to  fight  together  until  one  was 
killed ;  male  moles  often  fight,  and  sometimes  with  fatal 
results ;  male  squirrels  "  engage  in  frequent  contests,  and 
often  wound  each  other  severely ; "  as  do  male  beavers,  so 
that  "  hardly  a  skin  is  without  scars."  *  I  observed  the 
same  fact  with  the  hides  of  the  guanaooes  in  Patagonia ; 
and  on  one  occasion  several  were  so  absorbed  in  fighting 
that  they  fearlessly  rushed  close  by  me.  Livingstone 
speaks  of  the   males  of  tlie  many  animals  in   Southern 

'  See  Waterton's  account  of  two  hares  fighting,  'Zoologist,'  vol.  i. 
1843,  p.  211.  On  moles.  Bell,  'Hist,  of  British  Quadrupeds,'  1st  edit, 
p.  100.  On  squirrels,  Audubon  and  Bachman,  '  Viviparous  Quadrupeds 
of  North  America,'  184G,  p.  2G9.  On  beavers,  Mr.  A.  H.  Green,  in  '  Jour- 
nal of  Lin.  Soc.  Zoolog.'  vol.  x.  1809,  p.  SG2. 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  229 

Africa  as  almost  invariably  showing  the  scars  received  in 
former  contests. 

The  law  of  battle  prevails  with  aquatic  as  with  terres- 
trial mammals.  It  is  notorious  how  desperately  male  seals 
fight,  both  with  their  teeth  and  claws,  during  the  breed- 
ing-Season; and  their  hides  are  likewise  often  covered 
with  scars.  Male  sperm-whales  are  very  jealous  at  this 
season ;  and  in  their  battles  "  they  often  lock  their  jaws 
together,  and  turn  on  their  sides  and  twist  about ; "  so 
that  it  is  believed  by  some  naturalists  that  the  frequently 
deformed  state  of  their  lower  jaws  is  caused  by  these 
struggles.  ** 

All  male  animals  which  are  furnished  with  special 
weapons  for  fighting,  are  well  known  to  engage  in  fierce 
battles.  The  courage  and  the  desperate  conflicts  of  stags 
have  often  been  described ;  their  skeletons  have  been 
found  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  with  the  horns  inex- 
tricably locked  together,  showing  how  miserably  the  vic- 
tor and  vanquished  had  perished.^  No  animal  in  the 
world  is  so  dangerous  as  an  elephant  in  must.  Lord  Tan- 
kerville  has  given  me  a  graphic  descrijDtion  of  the  battles 
between  the  wild-bulls  in  Chillingham  Park,  the  descend- 
ants, degenerated  in  size  but  not  in  courage,  of  the  gigan- 
tic Hos  2)fimigenius.  In  1861  several  contended  for  mas- 
tery ;  and  it  was  observed  that  two  of  the  younger  bulls 
attacked  in  concert  the  old  leader  of  the  herd,  overthrew 
and  disabled  him,  so  that  he  was  believed  by  the  keepers 

2  On  the  battles  of  seals,  see  Captain  C.  Abbott  in  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.' 
1868,  p.  191;  also  Mr.  H.  Brown,  ibid.  1869,  p.  436;  also  L.  Lloyd, 
'Game-Birds  of  Sweden,'  1867,  p.  412;  also  Pennant.  On  the  sperm- 
whale,  sec  Mr.  J.  H.  Thompson,  in  'Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1867,  p.  246. 

'  See  Scrope  ('  Art  of  Deer-stalking,'  p.  17)  on  the  locking  of  the 
horns  with  the  Cervus  elaphus.  Richardson,  in  '  Fauna  Bor.  Americana,' 
1829,  p.  252,  says  that  the  wapiti,  moose,  and  reindeer,  have  been  found 
thus  locked  together.  Sir  A.  Smith  found  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
the  skeletons  of  two  gnus  in  the  same  condition. 


230  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAMMALS.  [Pabt  IL 

to  be  lying  mortally  wounded  in  a  neighboring  wood. 
But  a  few  days  afterward  one  of  the  young  bulls  singly 
approached  the  wood ;  and  then  the  "  monarch  of  tlie 
chase,"  who  had  been  lashing  himself  up  for  vengeance, 
came  out,  and  in  a  short  time  killed  his  antagonist.  He 
then  quietly  joined  the  herd,  and  long  held  undisputed 
sway.  Admiral  Sir  B.  J.  Sulivan  informs  me  that  when 
he  resided  in  the  Falkland  Islands  he  imported  a  young 
English  stallion,  which,  with  eight  mares,  frequented  the 
liills  near  Port  William.  On  these  hills  there  were  two 
wild  stallions,  each  with  a  small  troop  of  mares  ;  "  and  it 
is  certahi  that  these  stallions  would  never  have  approached 
each  other  without  fighting.  Both  had  tried  singly  to 
fight  the  English  horse  and  drive  away  his  mares,  but  had 
failed.  One  day  they  came  in  together  and  attacked  him. 
This  was  seen  by  the  captain  who  had  charge  of  the 
horses,  and  who,  on  riding  to  the  spot,  found  one  of  the 
two  stallions  engaged  with  the  English  horse,  while  the 
other  was  driving  away  the  mares,  and  had  already  sepa- 
rated four  from  the  rest.  The  captain  settled  the  matter 
by  driving  the  whole  party  into  the  corral,  for  the  wild- 
stallions  would  not  leave  the  mares." 

Male  animals  already  provided  with  efiicient  cutting  or 
tearing  teeth  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life,  as  in  the 
carnivora,  insectivora,  and  rodents,  are  seldom  furnished 
with  weapons  especially  adapted  for  fighting  with  their 
rivals.  The  case  is  very  different  with  the  males  of  many 
other  animals.  We  see  this  in  the  horns  of  stags  and  of 
certain  kinds  of  antelopes  in  which  the  females  are  horn- 
less. With  many  animals  the  canine  teeth  in  the  upper 
or  lower  jaw,  or  in  both,  are  much  larger  in  the  males 
than  in  the  females  ;  or  are  absent  in  the  latter,  with  the 
exception  sometimes  of  a  hidden  rudiment.  Certain  ante- 
lo|)es,  the  musk-deer,  camel,  horse,  boar,  various  apes, 
seals,  and  the  walrus,  ofier  instances  of  these  several  cases. 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  231 

In  the  females  of  the  walrus  the  tusks  are  sometimes  quite 
absent.*  In  the  male  elephant  of  India  and  in  the  male 
dugong  ^  the  upper  incisors  form  offensive  weapons.  In 
the  male  narwhal  one  alone  of  the  upper  teeth  is  de- 
veloped into  the  well-known,  spirally-twdsted,  so-called 
horn,  which  is  sometimes  from  nine  to  ten  feet  in  length. 
It  is  believed  that  the  males  use  these  horns  for  fighting 
together ;  for  "  an  unbroken  one  can  rarely  be  got,  and  oc- 
casionally one  may  be  found  with  the  point  of  another 
jammed  into  the  broken  place."  '  The  tooth  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  head  in  the  male  consists  of  a  rudiment 
about  ten  inches  in  length,  which  is  embedded  in  the  jaw. 
It  is  not,  however,  very  uncommon  to  find  double-horned 
male  narwhals  in  which  both  teeth  are  well  developed.  In 
the  females  both  teeth  are  rudimentary.  The  male  ca- 
chalot has  a  larger  head  than  that  of  the  female,  and  it  no 
doubt  aids  these  animals  in  their  aquatic  battles.  Lastly, 
the  adult  male  ornithorhynchus  is  provided  with  a  remark- 
able apparatus,  namely,  a  spur  on  the  fore-leg,  closely 
resembling  the  poison-fang  of  a  venomous  snake ;  its  use 
is  not  known,  but  we  may  suspect  that  it  serves  as  a 
weapon  of  offence.'  It  is  represented  by  a  mere  rudiment 
in  the  female. 

When  the  males  are  provided  with  weapons  which  the 
females  do  not  possess,  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that 
they  are  used  for  fighting  with  other  males,  and  that  they 
have  been  acquired  through  sexual  selection.  It  is  not 
probable,  at  least  in  most  cases,  that  the  females  have 

*  Mr.  Lamont  ('Seasons  with  the  Sea-Horses,'  1861,  p.  143)  says  that 
a  good  tusk  of  the  male  walrus  weighs  four  pounds,  and  is  longer  than 
that  of  the  female,  which  weighs  about  three  pounds.  The  males  are 
described  as  fighting  ferociously.  On  the  occasional  absence  of  the  tusks 
in  the  female,  see  Mr.  R.  Brown,  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1868,  p.  429, 

^  Owen,  '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii.  p.  283. 

«  Mr.  R.  Brown,  in  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1869,  p.  553. 

'  Owen  on  the  Cachalot  and  Ornithorhynchus,  ibid.  vol.  iii.  pp.  638,  641. 


232  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

actually  been  saved  from  acquiring  such  weapons,  owing 
to  their  being  useless  and  superfluous,  or  in  some  way  in- 
jurious. On  the  contrary,  as  they  are  often  used  by  the 
males  of  many  animals  for  various  purposes,  more  especially 
as  a  defence  against  their  enemies,  it  is  a  surprising  fact 
that  they  are  so  poorly  developed  or  quite  absent  in  the 
females.  No  doubt  with  female  deer  the  development 
during  each  recurrent  season  of  great  branching  horns, 
and  with  female  elephants  the  development  of  immense 
tusks,  would  have  been  a  great  waste  of  vital  power,  on 
the  admission  that  they  were  of  no  use  to  the  females. 
Consequently  variations  in  the  size  of  these  organs,  lead- 
ing to  their  suppression,  would  have  come  under  the  con- 
trol of  natural  selection,  and,  if  limited  in  their  transmission 
to  the  female  offsi:>ring,  would  not  have  interfered  with  their 
development  through  sexual  selection  in  the  males.  But 
how  on  this  view  can  we  explain  the  presence  of  horns  in 
the  females  of  certain  antelopes,  and  of  tusks  in  the 
females  of  many  animals,  which  are  only  of  slightly  less 
size  than  in  the  males  ?  The  explanation  in  almost  all 
cases  must,  I  believe,  be  sought  in  the  laws  of  transmis- 
sion. 

As  the  reindeer  is  the  single  species  in  the  whole  fam- 
ily of  Deer  in  which  the  female  is  furnished  with  horns, 
though  somewhat  smaller,  thinner,  and  less  branched  than 
in  the  male,  it  might  naturally  be  thought  that  they  must 
be  of  some  special  use  to  her.  There  is,  however,  some 
evidence  opposed  to  this  view.  The  female  retains  her 
horns  from  the  time  when  they  are  fully  developed,  namely, 
in  September,  throughout  the  winter,  until  May,  when  she 
brings  forth  her  young ;  while  the  male  casts  his  horns 
much  earlier,  toward  the  end  of  November.  As  both 
sexes  have  the  same  requirements  and  follow  the  same 
habits  of  life,  and  as  the  male  sheds  his  horns  during  the 
winter,  it  is  very  improbable  that  they  can  be  of  any  spe- 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF   BATTLE.  233 

cial  service  to  the  female  at  this  season,  which  includes  the 
larger  proportion  of  the  time  during  which  she  bears 
horns.  Nor  is  it  probable  that  she  can  have  inherited 
horns  from  some  ancient  progenitor  of  the  whole  family 
of  deer,  for,  from  the  fact  of  the  males  alone  of  so  many 
species  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe  possessing  horns,  we 
may  conclude  that  this  was  the  primordial  character  of 
the  group.  Hence  it  appears  that  horns  must  have  been 
transferred  from  the  male  to  the  female  at  a  period  sub- 
sequent to  the  divergence  of  the  various  species  from  a 
common  stock ;  but  that  this  was  not  effected  for  the  sake 
of  giving  her  any  special  advantage.® 

We  know  that  the  horns  are  developed  at  a  most  un- 
usually early  age  in  the  reindeer ;  but  what  the  cause  of 
this  may  have  been  is  not  known.  The  effect,  however, 
has  apparently  been  the  transference  of  the  horns  to  both 
sexes.  It  is  intelligible,  on  the  hypothesis  of  pangenesis, 
that  a  very  slight  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  male, 
either  in  the  tissues  of  the  forehead  or  in  the  gemmules  of 
the  horns,  might  lead  to  their  early  development ;  and,  as 
the  young  of  both  sexes  have  nearly  the  same  constitu- 
tion before  the  period  of  reproduction,  the  horns,  if  devel- 
oped at  an  eai'ly  age  in  the  male,  would  tend  to  be  de- 
veloped equally  in  both  sexes.  In  support  of  this  view, 
we  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  horns  are  always  trans- 
mitted through  the  female,  and  that  she  has  a  latent 
capacity  for  their  development,  as  we  see  in  old  or  dis- 
eased females.'      Moreover  the  females   of  some   other 

^  On  the  structure  and  shedding  of  the  horns  of  the  reindeer,  Hoff- 
berg,  '  Amoenitates  Acad.'  vol.  iv.  1*788,  p.  149.  See  Richardson,  'Fauna 
Bor.  Americana,'  p.  241,  in  regard  to  the  American  variety  or  species; 
also  Major  W.  Ross  King,  '  The  Sportsman  in  Canada,'  1866,  p.  80. 

'Isidore  Geoffroy  St.-Hilaire,  'Essais  de  Zoolog.  Generale,'  1841,  p. 
513.  Other  masculine  characters,  besides  the  horns,  are  sometimes  sim- 
ilarly transferred  to  the  female ;  thus  Mr.  Boner,  in  speaking  of  an  old 


234  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

species  of  deer,  either  normally  or  occasionally,  exhibit 
rudiments  of  horns  ;  thus  the  female  of  Ccrvidiis  moscha- 
tiis  has  "  bristly  tufts,  ending  in  a  knob,  instead  of  a  horn ; " 
and  "  in  most  specimens  of  the  female  Wapiti  ( Cervtis 
Canadensis)  there  is  a  sharp  bony  protuberance  in  the 
place  of  the  horn."  "*  From  these  several  considerations 
we  may  conclude  that  the  possession  of  fairly  well- 
developed  horns  by  the  female  reindeer,  is  due  to  the 
males  having  first  acquired  them  as  weapons  for  fighting 
with  other  males ;  and,  secondarily,  to  their  development 
from  some  unknown  cause  at  an  unusually  early  age  iu 
the  males,  and  their  consequent  transmission  to  both 
sexes. 

Turning  to  the  sheath-horned  ruminants:  with  ante- 
lopes a  graduated  series  can  be  formed,  beginning  with 
the  species,  the  females  of  which  are  completely  destitute 
of  horns — passing  to  those  which  have  horas  so  small  as 
to  be  almost  rudimentary,  as  in  Antilocapra  Americana 
— to  those  which  have  fairly  well-developed  horns,  but 
manifestly  smaller  and  thinner  than  in  the  male,  and 
sometimes  of  a  different  shape,"  and  ending  with  those  in 
which  both  sexes  have  horns  of  equal  size.  As  with  the 
reindeer,  so  with  antelopes,  there  exists  a  relation  be- 
tween the  period  of  the  development  of  the  horns  and 
their  transmission  to  one  or  both  sexes ;  it  is  therefore 
probable  that  their  presence  or  absence  in  the  females  of 

female  chamois  ('Chamois  Hunting  in  the  Mountains  of  Bavaria,'  18G0, 
2d  edit.  p.  363),  says,  "  not  only  was  the  head  very  male-lookinfr,  but  along 
the  back  there  was  a  ridge  of  long  hair,  usually  to  be  found  only  in 
bucks." 

'"  On  the  Cervulus,  Dr.  Gray,  '  Catalogue  of  the  Mammalia  in  British 
Museum,'  part  iii.  p.  220.  On  the  Cervns  Canadensis  or  Wapiti  see  Hon. 
J.  D.  Caton,  'Ottawa  Acad,  of  Nat.  Sciences,'  May,  1868,  p.  9. 

"  For  instance,  the  horns  of  the  female  Arit.  Euchore  resemble  those 
of  a  distinct  species,  viz.  the  Ant.  Dorcas  var.  Corine,  see  Dcsmarest, 
*  Manunalogie,'  p.  455. 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  235 

some  species,  and  their  more  or  less  perfect  condition  in 
the  females  of  other  species,  depend,  not  on  their  being 
of  some  special  use,  but  simply  on  the  form  of  inheritance 
which  has  prevailed.  It  accords  with  this  view  that  even 
in  the  same  restricted  genus  both  sexes  of  some  species, 
and  the  males  alone  of  other  species,  are  thus  provided. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  although  the  females  of  Anti- 
lope  bezoartica  are  normally  destitute  of  horns,  Mr.  Blyth 
has  seen  no  less  than  three  females  thus  furnished ;  and 
there  was  no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were  old  or  dis- 
eased. The  males  of  this  species  have  long,  straight, 
spirated  horns,  nearly  parallel  to  each  other,  and  directed 
backward.  Those  of  the  female,  when  present,  are  very 
different  in  shape,  for  they  are  not  spirated,  and,  spread- 
ing widely,  bend  round,  so  that  their  points  are  directed 
forward.  It  is  a  still  more  remarkable  fact  that  in  the 
castrated  male,  as  Mr.  Blyth  informs  me,  the  horns  are  of 
the  same  peculiar  shape  as  in  the  female,  but  longer  and 
thicker.  In  all  cases  the  differences  between  the  horns  of 
the  males  and  females,  and  of  castrated  and  entire  males, 
probably  depend  on  various  causes — on  the  more  or  less 
complete  transference  of  male  characters  to  the  females — 
on  the  former  state  of  the  progenitors  of  the  species — and 
partly,  perhaps,  on  the  horns  being  differently  nourished, 
in  nearly  the  same  manner  as  the  spurs  of  the  domestic 
cock,  when  inserted  into  the  comb  or  other  parts  of  the 
body,  assume  various  abnormal  forms  from  being  differ- 
ently nourished. 

In  all  the  wild  species  of  goats  and  sheep  the  horns  are 
larger  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  and  are  sometimes 
quite  absent  in  the  latter.'^  In  several  domestic  breeds 
of  the  sheep  and  goat,  the  males  alone  are  furnished  with 
horns  ;  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that,  in  one  such  breed 
of  sheep  on  the  Guinea  coast,  the  horns  are  not  devel- 
*2  Gray,  'Catalogue  Mamm.  Brit.  Mus.'  part  iii.  1852,  p.  160. 


23G  SEXCTAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Pakt  IL 

oped,  as  Mr.  Winwood  Reade  informs  me,  in  tlie  castrated 
male ;  so  tliat  they  are  affected  in  this  respect  like  the  horns 
of  stags.  In  some  breeds,  as  in  that  of  North  Wales, 
in  which  both  sexes  are  properly  horned,  the  ewes  are 
very  liable  to  be  hornless.  In  these  same  sheep,  as  I  have 
been  informed  by  a  trustworthy  witness  who  purposefy 
inspected  a  flock  during  the  lambing-season,  the  horns  at 
birth  are  generally  more  fully  developed  in  the  male  than 
in  the  female.  With  the  adult  inus\i-ox  (Ovibos  niosc/ia- 
tus)  the  horns  of  the  male  are  larger  than  those  of  the 
female,  and  in  the  latter  the  bases  do  not  touch."  In  re- 
gard to  ordinary  cattle  Mr.  Blyth  remarks  :  "  In  most  of 
the  wild  bovine  animals  the  horns  are  both  longer  and 
thicker  in  the  bull  than  in  the  cow,  and  in  the  cow-ban- 
teng  (Jios  sondaicus)  the  horns  are  remarkably  small, 
and  inclined  much  backward.  In  the  domestic  races  of 
cattle,  both  of  the  humped  and  humpless  types,  the  horns 
are  short  and  thick  in  the  bull,  longer  and  more  slender 
in  the  cow  and  ox ;  and  in  the  Indian  buffalo  they  are 
sliorter  and  thicker  in  the  bull,  longer  and  more  slender 
in  the  cow.  In  the  wild-gaour  [B.  gaurm)  the  horns  are 
mostly  both  longer  and  thicker  in  the  bull  than  in  the 
cow.""  Hence  with  most  sheath-horned  ruminants  the 
horns  of  the  male  are  either  longer  or  stronger  than  those 
of  the  female.  With  the  Hhmoceros  simus,  as  I  may  here 
add,  the  horns  of  the  female  are  generally  longer  but  less 
powerful  than  in  the  male ;  and  in  some  other  species  of 
rhinoceros  they  are  said  to  be  shorter  in  the  female." 
From  these  various  facts  we  may  conclude  that  horns  of 
all  kinds,  even  when  equally  developed  in  both  sexes, 
were  primarily  acquired  by  the  males  in  order  to  conquer 

''  Richardson,  '  Fauna  Bor.  Americana,'  p.  2lS. 
'*  '  Land  and  water,'  1867,  p.  346. 

''  Sir  Andrew  Smith, '  Zoology  of  South  Africa,'  pi.  xix.    Owen, '  Anat- 
omy of  Vertebrates,'  voL  iii.  p.  624. 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  237 

other  males,  and  have  been  transferred  more  or  less  com- 
pletely to  the  female,  in  relation  to  the  force  of  the  equal 
form  of  inheritance. 

The  tusks  of  the  elephant,  in  the  different  species  or 
races,  differ  according  to  sex,  in  nearly  the  same  manner 
as  the  horns  of  ruminants.  In  India  and  Malacca  the 
males  alone  are  provided  with  well-developed  tusks.  The 
elephant  of  Ceylon  is  considered  by  most  naturalists  as  a 
distinct  race,  but  by  some  as  a  distinct  species,  and  here 
"  not  one  in  a  hundred  is  found  with  tusks,  the  few  that 
possess  them  being  exclusively  males."  '^  The  African 
elephant  is  undoubtedly  distinct,  and  the  female  has 
large,  well-developed  tusks,  though  not  so  large  as  those 
of  the  male.  These  differences  in  the  tusks  of  the  scA'eral 
races  and  species  of  elephants — the  great  variability  of 
the  horns  of  deer,  as  notably  in  the  wild-reindeer — the 
occasional  j^resence  of  horns  in  the  female  Antiloiye  bezo- 
artica — the  presence  of  two  tusks  in  some  few  male  nar- 
whals— the  complete  absence  of  tusks  in  some  female 
walruses — are  all  instances  of  the  extreme  variability  of 
secondary  sexual  characters,  and  of  their  extreme  liability 
to  differ  in  closely-allied  forms. 

Although  tusks  and  horns  appear  in  all  cases  to  have 
been  primarily  developed  as  sexual  weapons,  they  often 
serve  for  other  purposes.  The  elephant  uses  his  tusks  in 
attacking  the  tiger;  according  to  Bruce,  he  scores  the 
trunks  of  trees  until  they  can  be  easily  thrown  down,  and 
he  likewise  thus  extracts  the  farinaceous  cores  of  palms  ; 
in  Africa  he  often  uses  one  tusk,  this  being  always  the 
same,  to  probe  the  ground  and  thus  to  ascertain  whether 
it  will  bear  his  weight.  The  common  bull  defends  the 
herd  with  his  horns ;  and  the  elk  in  Sweden  has  been 
known,  according  to  Lloyd,  to  strike  a  wolf  dead  with  a 

i«  Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent,  'Ceylon,'  1859,  vol.  ii.  p.  274.  For  Ma- 
lacca, '  Journal  of  Indian  Archipelago,'  vol.  iv.  p.  357. 


238  SEXUAL   SELECTION:    MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

single  blow  of  his  great  horns.  Many  similar  facts  could 
be  given.  One  of  the  most  curious  secondary  uses  to 
which  the  horns  of  any  animal  are  occasionally  put,  is 
that  observed  by  Captain  Hutton,"  with  the  wild-goat 
(Capra  (pgagrus)  of  the  Himalayas,  and,  as  it  is  said, 
with  the  ibex,  namely,  that  when  the  male  accidentally 
falls  from  a  height,  he  bends  inward  his  head,  and,  by 
alighting  on  his  massive  horns,  breaks  the  shock.  The 
female  cannot  thus  use  her  horns,  which  are  smaller,  but 
from  her  more  quiet  disposition  she  does  not  so  much 
need  this  strange  kind  of  shield. 

Each  male  animal  iises  his  weapons  in  his  own  pecu- 
liar fashion.  The  common  ram  makes  a  charge  and  butts 
with  such  force  with  the  bases  of  his  horns,  that  I  have 
seen  a  powerful  man  knocked  over  as  easily  as  a  child. 
Goats  and  certain  species  of  sheep,  for  instance  the  Ovis 
cycloceros  of  Afghanistan,"  rear  on  their  hind-legs,  and 
then  not  only  butt,  but  "  make  a  cut  down  and  a  jerk  up, 
with  the  ribbed  front  of  their  scimitar-shaped  horn,  as 
Avith  a  sabre.  When  the  0.  cycloceros  attacked  a  large 
domestic  ram,  who  was  a  noted  bruiser,  he  conquered  him 
by  the  sheer  novelty  of  his  mode  of  fighting,  always  clos- 
ing at  once  with  his  adversary,  and  catching  him  across 
the  face  and  nose  with  a  sharp  drawing  jerk  of  his  head, 
and  then  bounding  out  of  the  way  before  the  blow  could 
be  returned."  In  Pembrokeshire  a  male  goat,  the  master 
of  a  flock  which  during  several  generations  had  run  wild, 
Avas  known  to  have  killed  several  other  males  in  single 
combat ;  this  goat  possessed  enormous  horns,  measuring 
thirty-nine  inches  in  a  straight  line  from  tip  to  tip.  The 
common  bull,  as  every  one  knows,  gores  and  tosses  his 

"  'Calcutta  Journal  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  ii.  18 13,  p.  526. 

•8  Mr.  Hh'th,  in  'Land  and  Water,'  March,  1867,  p.  134,  on  the  an- 
thority  of  Captain  Hutton  and  others.  For  the  wild  Pembrokeshire 
goats  see  the  'Field,'  18G9,  p.  150. 


Chap.  XVII.l  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  239 

opponent ;  but  the  Italian  buffalo  is  said  never  to  use  his 
horns,  he  gives  a  tremendous  blow  with  his  convex  fore- 
head, and  then  tramples  on  his  fallen  enemy  with  his 
knees — an  instinct  which  the  common  bull  does  not  pos- 
sess." Hence  a  dog  who  pins  a  buffalo  by  the  nose  is  im- 
mediately crushed.  We  must,  however,  remember  that 
the  Italian  buffalo  has  long  been  domesticated,  and  it  is 
by  no  means  certain  that  the  wild  parent-form  had  simi- 
larly shaped  horns.  Mr,  Bartlett  informs  me  that  when 
a  female  Cape  buffalo  {Buhalus  Gaffer)  was  turned  into  an 
enclosure  with  a  bull  of  the  same  species,  she  attacked 
him,  and  he  in  return  pushed  her  about  with  great  vio- 
lence. But  it  was  manifest  to  Mr.  Bartlett  that  had  not 
the  bull  shown  dignified  forbearance,  he  could  easily  have 
killed  her  by  a  single  lateral  thrust  with  his  immense 
horns.  The  giraffe  uses  his  sl)ort  hair-covered  horns, 
which  are  rather  longer  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  in 
a  curious  manner ;  for  with  his  long  neck  he  swings  his 
head  to  either  side,  almost  upside  down,  with  such  force, 
that  I  have  seen  a  hard  plank  deeply  indented  by  a  single 
blow. 

"With  antelopes  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  imagine 
how  they  can  possibly  use  their  curiously-shaped  horns ; 
thus  the  spring-boc  {Ant.  euehore)  has  rather  short  up- 
right horns,  with  the  sharp  points  bent  inward  almost  at 
a  right  angle,  so  as  to  face  each  other ;  Mr,  Bartlett  does 
not  know  how  they  are  used,  but  suggests  that  they 
would  inflict  a  fearful  wound  down  each  side  of  the  face 
of  an  antagonist.  The  slightly-curved  horns  of  the  Oryx 
leucoryx  (Fig.  61)  are  directed  backward,  and  are  of  such 
length  that  their  points  reach  beyond  the  middle  of  tlie 
back,  ov^r  which  they  stand  in  an  almost  parallel  line. 
Thus  they  seem  singularly  ill-fitted  for  fighting ;  but  Mr, 

"  M.  E.  M.  Bailly,  "  Sur  I'usage  des  Cornes,"  etc.,  '  Annal.  des  Sc. 
Nat.'  torn.  '\.  1824,  p.  369. 


240 


SEXUAL   SELECTION  :    MAMMALS. 


[Part  IL 


Bartlett  informs  inc  that  whon  two  of  these  animals  pre- 
pare for  battle,  they  kneel  down,  with  their  heads  between 
their  front  legs,  and  in  this  attitude  the  liorns  stand  near- 
ly parallel  and  close  to  the  ground,  with  the  points  di- 
rected forward  and  a  little  upward.  The  combatants 
then  gradually  approach  each  other  and  endeavor  to  get 
the  uj)turned  points  under  each  other's  bodies ;  if  one  suc- 
ceeds in  doing  this  he  suddenly  springs  "up,  thro^\dng  up 


Fig.  61. — Oryx  leucoryx,  male  (from  the  Knowslcy  Menagerie). 

his  head  at  the  same  time,  and  can  thus  wound  or  per- 
haps even  transfix  his  antagonist.  Both  animals  always 
kneel  down  so  as  to  guaixl  as  far  as  possible  against  this 
manoeuvre.  It  has  been  recorded  that  one  of  these  ante- 
lopes has  used  his  horns  with  effect  even  against  a  lion ; 
yet,  from  being  forced  to  place  his  head  between  the  fore- 
legs in  order  to  bring  the  points  of  the  horns  forward,  he 
would  generally  be  under  a  great  disadvantage  when  at- 
tacked by  any  other  animal.  It  is,  therefore,  not  probable 
that  the  horns  have  been  modified  into  their  present  great 
length  and  peculiar  position,  as  a  protection  against 
beasts  of  prey.     We  can,  however,  see  that  as  soon  as 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  341 

some  ancient  male  progenitor  of  the  Oryx  acquired  mod- 
erately long  horns,  directed  a  little  backward,  he  would 
be  compelled  in  his  battles  with  rival  males  to  bend  his 
head  somewhat  inward  or  downward,  as  is  now  done  by 
certain  stags ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  might 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  at  first  occasionally  and  after- 
ward of  regularly  kneeling  down.  In  this  case  it  is  al- 
most certain  that  the  males  which  possessed  the  longest 
horns  would  have  had  a  great  advantage  over  others  with 
shorter  horns ;  and  then  the  horns  would  gradually  have 
been  rendered  longer  and  longer,  through  sexual  selection, 
until  they  acquired  their  present  extraordinary  length 
and  position. 

With  stags  of  many  kinds  the  branching  of  the  horns 
offers  a  curious  case  of  difiiculty  ;  for  cei-tainly  a  single 
straight  point  would  inflict  a  much  more  serious  wound 
than  several  diverging  points.  In  Sir  Philip  Egerton's 
museum  there  is  a  horn  of  the  red-deer  (Cerviis  ela- 
phus)  thirty  inches  in  length,  with  "not  fewer  than 
fifteen  snags  or  branches ; "  and  at  Moritzburg  there 
is  still  preserved  a  pair  of  antlers  of  a  red-deer,  shot  in 
1699  by  Frederick  I.,  each  of  which  bears  the  aston- 
ishing number  of  thirty-three  branches.  Richardson 
figures  a  pair  of  antlers  of  the  wild-reindeer  with  twenty- 
nine  points.'"'  From  the  manner  in  which  the  horns 
are  branched,  and  more  especially  from  deer  being 
known  occasionally  to  fight  together  by  kicking  with 
their    forefeet,'**   M.    Bailly   actually   came    to    the   con- 

^*  Owen,  on  the  Horns  of  Red-deer,  '  British  Fossil  Mammals,'  1846, 
p.  478;  'Forest  Creatures,'  by  Charles  Boner,  1861,  pp.  62,  76.  Rich- 
ardson on  the  Horns  of  the  Reindeer,  '  Fauna  Bor.  Americana,'  1829, 
p.  240. 

21  Hon.  J.  D.  Caton  ('  Ottawa  Acad,  of  Nat.  Science,'  May,  1868,  p.  9), 
says  that  the  American  deer  fight  with  their  forefeet,  after  "  the  ques- 
tion of  superiority  has  been  once  settled  and  acknowledged  in  the  herd  '' 
30 


242  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IT. 

elusion  that  their  horns  were  more  injurious  than  useful 
to  them !  But  this  author  overlooks  the  pitched  battles 
between  rival  males.  As  I  felt  much  perplexed  about 
the  use  or  advantage  of  the  branches,  I  applied  to  Mr. 
McNeill  of  Colinsay,  who  has  long  and  carefully  observed 
the  habits  of  red-deer,  and  he  informs  me  that  he  has  never 
seen  some  of  the  branches  brought  into  action,  but  that 
the  brow-antlers,  from  inclining  downward,  are  a  great 
protection  to  the  forehead,  and  their  points  are  likewise 
used  in  attack.  Sir  Philip  Egerton  also  informs  me,  in 
regard  both  to  red-deer  and  fallow-deer,  that  when  they 
fight  they  suddenly  dash  together,  and  getting  their  horns 
fixed  against  each  other's  bodies  a  desperate  struggle 
ensues.  When  one  is  at  last  forced  to  yield  and  turn 
round,  the  victor  endeavors  to  plunge  his  brow-antlers 
into  his  defeated  foe.  It  thus  appears  that  the  upper 
branches  are  used  chiefly  or  exclusively  for  pushing  and 
fencing.  Nevertheless,  with  some  species  the  upper 
branches  are  used  as  weapons  of  ofience ;  when  a  man 
was  attacked  by  a  Wapiti  deer  ( Cervus  Canadensis)  in 
Judge  Caton's  park  in  Ottawa,  and  several  men  tried  to 
rescue  him,  the  stag  "  never  raised  his  head  from  the 
ground ;  in  fact  he  kept  his  face  almost  flat  on  the  ground, 
with  his  nose  nearly  between  his  forefeet,  except  when  he 
rolled  his  head  to  one  side  to  take  a  new  observation  pre- 
paratory to  a  plunge."  In  this  position  the  terminal  points 
of  the  horns  were  directed  against  his  adversaries.  "  In 
rolling  his  head  he  necessarily  raised  it  somewhat,  because 
his  antlers  were  so  long  that  he  could  not  roll  his  head 
without  raising  them  on  one  side,  while  on  the  other  side 
they  touched  the  groimd."  The  stag  by  this  procedure 
gradually  drove   the   party  of  rescuers   backward,  to  a 

Bailly,  "  Sur  I'usage  des  Comes," 'Annales  des  Sc.  Nat.'  torn.  ii.  1824, 
p.  371. 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF   BATTLE.  243 

distance  of  150  or  200  feet ;  and  the  attacked  man  was 
killed." 

Although  the  horns  of  stags  are  efficient  weapons,  there 
can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt  that  a  single  point  would  have 
been  much  more  dangerous  than  a  branched  antler ;  and 
Judge  Caton,  who  has  had  large  experience  with  deer, 
fully  concurs  in  this  conclusion.  Nor  do  the  branching 
horns,  though  highly  important  as  a  means  of  defence 
against  rival  stags,  appear  perfectly  well  adapted  for  this 
pui'pose,  as  they  are  liable  to  become  interlocked.  The 
suspicion  has  therefore  crossed  my  mind  that  they  may 
serve  partly  as  ornaments.  That  the  branched  antlers  of 
stags,  as  well  as  the  elegant  lyrated  horns  of  certain  ante- 
lopes, with  their  graceful  double  curvature  (Fig.  62),  are 
ornamental  in  our  eyes,  no  one  will  dispute.  If,  then,  the 
horns,  like  the  splendid  accoutrements  of  the  knights  of  old, 
add  to  the  noble  appearance  of  stags  and  antelopes,  they 
may  have  been  partly  modified  for  this  purpose,  though 
mainly  for  actual  service  in  battle  ;  but  I  have  no  evidence 
in  favor  of  this  belief. 

An  interesting  case  has  lately  been  published,  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  horns  of  a  deer  in  one  district 
in  the  United  States  are  now  being  modified  through 
sexual  and  natural  selection.  A  writer  in  an  excellent 
American  journal"  says  that  he  has  hunted  for  the  last 
twenty-one  years  in  the  Adirondacks,  where  the  Cervus 
Virginianus  abounds.  About  fourteen  years  ago  he  first 
heard  of  spike-horn  bucks.  These  became  from  year  to 
year  more  common  ;  about  five  years  ago  he  shot  one,  and 
subsequently  another,  and^  now  they  are  frequently  killed. 
"  The  spike-horn  differs  greatly  from  the  common  antler 
of  the  G.  Yirginianus.     It  consists  of  a  single  spike,  more 

°2  See  a  most  interesting  account  in  the  Appendix  to  Hon.  J.  D. 
Caton's  paper,  as  above  quoted. 

"  '  The  American  Naturalist,'  Dec.  1869,  p.  552. 


244  SEXUAL   SELECTIOX :    MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

slender  than  the  antler,  and  scarcely  half  so  long,  project- 
ing forward  from  the  brow,  and  terminating  in  a  very 


Fio.  62.— Strepslccros  Kudu  (from  Andrew  Smith's  'Zoology  of  South  Africa') 

sharp  point.  It  gives  a  considerable  advantage  to  its 
possessor  over  the  common  buck.  Besides  enabling  him 
to  run  more  swiftly  through  the  thick  woods  and  under- 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF   BATTLE.  245 

brush  (every  hunter  knows  that  does  and  yearling  bucks 
run  much  more  rapidly  than  the  large  bucks  when  armed 
with  their  cumbrous  antlers),  the  spike-horn  is  a  more 
effective  weapon  than  the  common  antler.  With  this 
advantage  the  spike-horn  bucks  are  gaining  upon  the 
common  bucks,  and  may,  in  time,  entirely  supersede  them 
in  the  Adirondacks.  Undoubtedly  the  first  spike-horn 
buck  was  merely  an  accidental  freak  of  Nature.  But  his 
spike-horns  gave  him  an  advantage,  and  enabled  him  to 
propagate  his  peculiarity.  His  descendants,  having  a  like 
advantage,  have  propagated  the  peculiarity  in  a  constantly 
increasing  ratio,  till  they  are  slowly  crowding  the  antlered 
deer  from  the  region  they  inhabit." 

Male  quadrupeds  which  are  furnished  with  tusks  use 
them  in  various  ways,  as  in  the  case  of  horns.  The  boar 
strikes  laterally  and  upward ;  the  musk-deer  with  serious 
effect  downward."  The  walrus,  though  having  so  short  a 
neck  and  so  unwieldy  a  body,  "  can  strike  either  upward, 
or  downward,  or  sideways,  with  equal  dexterity."  "  The 
Indian  elephant  fights,  as  I  was  informed  by  the  late  Dr. 
Falconer,  in  a  different  manner  according  to  the  position 
and  curvature  of  his  tusks.  When  they  are  directed  for- 
ward and  upward  he  is  able  to  fling  a  tiger  to  a  great  dis- 
tance— it  is  said  to  even  thirty  feet ;  when  they  are  short 
and  turned  downward  he  endeavors  suddenly  to  pin  the 
tiger  to  the  ground,  and  in  consequence  is  dangerous  to 
the  rider,  who  is  liable  to  be  jerked  off  the  hoodah." 

Very  few  male  quadrupeds  possess  weapons  of  two 
distinct  kinds  specially  adapted  for  fighting  with  rival 
males.      The    male    muntjac-deer    (Cervulus),   however, 

**  Pallas,  'Spicilegia  Zoologica,'  fasc.  xiii.  17*79,  p.  18. 

^^  Lamont,  'Seasons  with  the  Sea-Horses,'  1861,  p.  141. 

^^  See  also  Corse  ('  Philosoph.  Transact.'  1*799,  p.  212)  on  the  manner 
in  which  the  short-tusked  Mooknah  variety  of  the  elephant  attacks  other 
elephants. 


246  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

offers  an  exception,  as  he  is  provided  with  horns  and  ex- 
serted  canine  teeth.  But  one  form  of  weapon  has  often 
been  rephiced  in  the  course  of  ages  by  another  form,  as 
we  may  infer  from  what  follows.  With  ruminants  the 
deYeloj)ment  of  horns  generally  stands  in  an  inverse  rela- 
tion with  that  of  even  moderately  well-developed  canine 
teeth.  Thus  camels,  guanacoes,  chevrotains,  and  musk- 
deer,  are  hornless,  and  they  have  efficient  canines ;  these 
tei'th  being  "  always  of  smaller  size  in  the  females  than  in 
the  males."  The  Camelidae  have  in  their  upper  jaws,  in 
addition  to  their  true  canines,  a  pair  of  canine-shaped  in- 
cisors.^' Male  deer  and  antelopes,  on  the  other  hand,  pos- 
sess horns,  and  they  rarely  have  canine  teeth ;  and  these 
when  present  are  always  of  small  size,  so  that  it  is 
doubtful  whether  they  are  of  any  service  in  their  battles. 
AYith  Antilope  montaiia  they  exist  only  as  rudiments  in 
the  young  male,  disappearing  as  he  grows  old ;  and  they 
are  absent  in  the  female  at  all  ages ;  but  the  females  of 
certain  other  antelopes  and  deer  have  been  known  occa- 
sionally to  exhibit  rudiments  of  these  teeth."  Stallions 
have  small  canine  teeth,  which  are  either  quite  absent  or 
rudimentary  in  the  mare ;  but  they  do  not  appear  to  be 
used  in  fighting,  for  stallions  bite  with  their  incisors,  and 
do  not  open  their  mouths  widely  like  camels  and  guana- 
coes. Whenever  the  adult  male  possesses  canines  now  in 
an  inefficient  state,  while  the  female  has  either  none  or 
mere  rudiments,  we  may  conclude  that  the  early  male  pro- 
genitor of  the  species  was  provided  with  efficient  canines, 

-'  Owen,  '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,*  vol.  iii.  p.  349. 

28  Sec  Riippell  (in  '  Proc.  Zoolog.  See'  Jan.  12.  1836,  p.  3)  on  the 
canines  in  deer  and  antelopes,  with  a  note  by  Mr.  Martin  on  a  female 
American  deer.  See  also  Falconer  ('Palasont.  Memoirs  and  Notes,' vol. 
i.  1808,  p.  576)  on  canines  in  an  adult  female  deer.  In  old  males  of  the 
musk-deer  the  canines  (Pallas,  'Spic.  Zoolog.'  fasc.  xiii.  1779,  p.  18) 
sometimes  grow  to  the  length  of  three  inches,  whiWin  old  females  a  ru. 
diment  projects  scarcely  half  an  inch  above  the  gums. 


Chap.  XVII.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  347 

which  had  been  partially  transferred  to  the  females.  The 
reduction  of  these  teeth  in  the  males  seems  to  have  fol- 
lowed from  some  change  in  their  manner  of  fighting,  often 
caused  (but  not  in  the  case  of  the  horse)  by  the  develop- 
ment of  new  weapons. 

Tusks  and  horns  are  manifestly  of  high  importance  to 
their  possessors,  for  their  development  consumes  much 
organized  matter.  A  single  tusk  of  the  Asiatic  elephant 
— one  of  the  extinct  woolly  species — and  of  the  African 
elephant,  have  been  known  to  weigh  respectively  150,  160, 
and  180  pounds;  and  even  greater  weights  have  been  as- 
signed by  some  authors.^'  With  deer,  in  which  the  horns 
are  periodically  renewed,  the  drain  on  the  constitution 
must  be  greater;  the  horns,  for  instance,  of  the  moose 
weigh  from  fifty  to  sixty  pounds,  and  those  of  the  extinct 
Irish  elk  from  sixty  to  seventy  pounds — the  skull  of  the 
latter  weighing  on  an  average  only  five  and  a  quarter 
pounds.  With  sheep,  although  the  horns  are  not  periodi- 
cally renewed,  yet  their  development,  in  the  opinion  of 
many  agriculturists,  entaUs  a  sensible  loss  to  the  breeder. 
Stags,  moreover,  in  escaping  from  beasts  of  prey,  are 
loaded  with  an  additional  weight  for  the  race,  and  are 
greatly  retarded  in  passing  through  a  woody  country. 
The  moose,  for  instance,  with  horns  extending  five  and  a 
half  feet  from  tip  to  tip,  although  so  skilful  in  their  use 
that  he  will  not  touch  or  break  a  dead  twig  when  walking 
quietly,  cannot  act  so  dexterously  while  rushing  away 
from  a  pack  of  wolves.  "  During  his  progress  he  holds 
his  nose  up,  so  as  to  lay  the  horns  horizontally  back ;  and 
in  this  attitude  cannot  see  the  ground  distinctly."  '"      The 

^'^  Emerson  Tennent,  'Ceylon,'  1859,  vol.  ii.  p.  2Y5  ;  Owen,  'British 
Fossil 'Mammals,'  1846,  p.  245. 

^<'  Richardson,  '  Fauna  Bor.  Americana,'  on  the  moose,  Alces  palmata, 
p.  236,  23*7  ;  also,  on  the  expanse  of  the  horns,  'Land  and  Water,'  1869, 
p.  143.  See  also  Owen,  '  British  Fossil  Mammals,'  on  the  Irish  elk,  pp. 
447,  455. 


248  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  H. 

tips  of  the  horns  of  the  great  Irish  elk  were  actually 
eight  feet  apart !  While  the  horns  are  covered  with 
velvet,  which  lasts  with  the  red-deer  for  about  twelve 
weeks,  they  are  extremely  sensitive  to  a  blow ;  so  that  in 
Germany  the  stags  at  this  time  change  their  habits  to  a 
certain  extent,  and  avoid  dense  forests,  frequenting  young 
woods  and  low  thickets.*'  These  facts  remind  us  that 
male  birds  have  acquired  ornamental  plumes  at  the  cost 
of  retarded  flight,  and  other  ornaments  at  the  cost  of  some 
loss  of  power  in  their  battles  with  rival  males. 

"With  quadrupeds,  when,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  sexes 
differ  in  size,  the  males  are,  I  believe,  always  larger  and 
stronger.  This  holds  good  in  a  marked  manner,  as  I  am 
informed  by  jNIr.  Gould,  with  the  marsupials  of  Australia, 
the  males  of  which  appear  to  continue  growing  until  an 
unusually  late  age.  But  the  most  extraordinary  case  is 
that  of  one  of  the  seals  (Callorhinus  icrsimis),  a  full- 
grown  female  weighing  less  than  one-sixth  of  a  full-grown 
male."  The  greater  strength  of  the  male  is  invariably 
displayed,  as  Hunter  long  ago  remarked,"  in  those  parts 
of  the  body  which  are  brought  into  action  in  fighting  with 
rival  males — for  instance,  in  the  massive  neck  of  the  bull. 
Male  quadrupeds  are  also  more  courageous  and  pugna- 
cious than  the  females.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
these  characters  have  been  gained,  partly  through  sexual 
selection,  owing  to  a  long  series  of  victories  by  the 
stronger  and  more  courageous  males  over  the  weaker,  and 
partly  through  the  inherited  effects  of  use.  It  is  probable 
that  the  successive  variations  in  strength,  size,  and  cour- 
age, whether  due  to  so-called  spontaneous  variability  or 
to  the  effects  of  use,  by  the  accumulation  of  which,  male 

2'  'Forest  Creatures,'  by  C.  Boner,  1861,  p.  60, 

•'"  See  the  very  intcrcstinji  paper  by  Mr.  J.  A  Allen  in  'Bull.  Mus. 
Comp.  Zoolog.  of  Cambridge,  United  States,'  vol.  ii.  No.  1,  p.  82.  The 
weights  were  ascertained  by  a  careful  observer,  Captain  Bryant 

''  'Animal  Economy,'  p.  45. 


Chap.  XVII.]        GREATER   SIZE   OF   THE   MALE.  249 

quadrupeds  have  acquired  these  characteristic  qualities, 
occurred  rather  late  in  life,  and  were  consequently  to  a 
large  extent  limited  in  their  transmission  to  the  same  sex. 
Under  this  point  of  view  I  was  anxious  to  obtain  in- 
formation in  regard  to  the  Scotch  deer-hound,  the  sexes 
of  which  differ  more  in  size  than  those  of  any  other 
breed  (though  blood-hounds  differ  considerably),  or  than 
in  any  wild  canine  species  known  to  me.  Accordingly,  I 
applied  to  Mr.  Cupples,  a  well-known  breeder  of  these 
dogs,  who  has  weighed  and  measured  many  of  his  own 
dogs,  and  who,  with  great  kindness,  has  collected  for  me 
the  following  facts  from  various  sources.  Superior  male 
dogs,  measured  at  the  shoulder,  range  from  twenty-eight 
inches,  which  is  low,  to  thirty-three  or  even  thirty-four 
inches  in  height;  and  in  weight  from  eighty  pounds, 
which  is  low,  to  one  hundred  and  twenty,  or  even  more 
pounds.  The  females  range  in  height  from  twenty-three 
to  twenty-seven  or  even  twenty-eight  inches;  and  in 
weight  from  fifty  to  seventy,  or  even  eighty  pounds." 
Mr.  Cupples  concludes  that  from  ninety-five  to  one  hun- 
dred pounds  for  the  male,  and  seventy  for  the  female, 
would  be  a  safe  average ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  formerly  both  sexes  attained  a  greater  weight.  Mr. 
Cupples  has  weighed  puppies  when  a  fortnight  old ;  in 
one  litter  the  average  weight  of  four  males  exceeded  that 
of  two  females  by  six  and  a  half  ounces  ;  in  another  litter 
the  average  weight  of  four  males  exceeded  that  of  one 
female  by  less  than  one  ounce ;  the  same  males,  when 
three  weeks  old,  exceeded  the  female  by  seven  and  a  half 

3*  See  also  Richardson's  '  Manual  on  the  Dog,'  p.  59.  Much  valuable 
information  on  the  Scottish  deer-hound  is  given  by  Mr.  McNeill,  who 
first  called  attention  to  the  inequality  in  size  between  the  sexes,  in 
Serope's  '  Art  of  Deer  Stalking.'  I  hope  that  Mr.  Cupples  will  keep  to 
his  intention  of  -publishing  a  full  account  and  history  of  this  famous 
breed. 


250  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAMMALS.  [Pakt  IL 

ounces,  and  at  the  age  of  six  weeks  by  nearly  fourteen 
ounces.  Mr.  Wright,  of  Yeldersley  House,  in  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Cupples,  says:  "I  have  taken  notes  on  the  sizes  and 
weights  of  puppies  of  many  litters,  and,  as  far  as  my  ex- 
perience goes,  dog-puppies  as  a  rule  differ  very  little  from 
bitches  till  they  arrive  at  about  five  or  six  months  old ; 
and  then  the  dogs  begin  to  increase,  gaining  upon  the 
bitches  both  in  weight  and  size.  At  birth,  and  for  sev- 
eral weeks  afterward,  a  bitch-puppy  will  occasionally  be 
larger  than  any  of  the  dogs,  but  they  are  invariably 
beaten  by  them  later."  Mr.  McNeill,  of  Colinsay,  con- 
cludes that  "  the  males  do  not  attain  their  full  growth  till 
over  two  years  old,  though  the  females  attain  it  sooner." 
According  to  Mr.  Cupples's  experience,  male  dogs  go  on 
groAving  in  stature  till  they  are  from  twelve  to  eighteen 
months  old,  and  in  weight  till  from  eighteen  to  twenty- 
four  months  old ;  while  the  females  cease  increasing  in 
stature  at  the  age  of  from  nine  to  fourteen  or  fifteen 
months,  and  in  weight  at  the  age  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
months.  From  these  various  statements  it  is  clear  that 
the  full  difference  in  size  between  the  male  and  female 
Scotch  deer-hound  is  not  acquired  until  rather  late  in  life. 
The  males  are  almost  exclusively  used  for  coursing,  for,  as 
Mr.  McNeill  informs  me,  the  females  have  not  sufficient 
strength  and  weight  to  pull  down  a  full-grown  deer. 
From  the  names  used  in  old  legends,  it  appears,  as  I  hear 
from  Mr.  Cupples,  that  at  a  very  ancient  period  the  males 
were  the  most  celebrated,  the  females  being  mentioned 
only  as  the  mothers  of  famous  dogs.  Hence,  during 
many  generations,  it  is  the  male  which  has  been  chiefly 
tested  for  strength,  size,  speed,  courage,  and  the  best  will 
have  been  bred  from.  As,  however,  the  males .  do  not 
attain  their  full  dimensions  until  a  rather  late  period  in 
life,  they  will  have  tended,  in  accordance  with  the  law 
often  indicated,  to  transmit  their  characters  to  their  male 


Chap.  XV 11.] 


MEANS   OF   DEFENCE. 


251 


offspring  alone ;  and  thus  the  great  inequality  in  size  be- 
tween the  sexes  of  the  Scotch  deer-hound  may  probably 
be  accounted  for. 

The  males  of  some  few  quadrupeds  possess  organs  or 
parts  developed  solely  as  a  means  of  defence  against  the 
attacks  of  other  males.  Some  kinds  of  deer  use,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  upper  branches  of  their  horns  chiefly  or  ex- 
clusively for  defending  themselves ;  and  the  Oryx  ante- 
lope, as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Bartlett,  fences  most  skil- 
fully with  his  long,  gently-curved  horns ;  but  these  are 
likewise  used  as  organs  of  offence.  Rhinoceroses,  as  the 
same  observer  remarks,  in  fighting  pai-ry  each  other's  side- 
long blows  with  their  hoi'us,  which  loudly  clatter  together, 
as  do  the  tusks  of 
boars.  Although  wild- 
boars  fight  desperate- 
ly together,  they  sel- 
dom, according  to 
Brehm,  receive  fatal 
blows,  as  these  fall  on 
each  other's  tusks,  or 
on  the  layer  of  gristly 
skin  covering  the  shoul- 
der, which  the  Giermau 
hunters  call  the  shield ; 
and  here  we  have  a 
part  S25ecially  modified  for  defence.  With  boars  in  the 
prime  of  life  (see  Fig.  63)  the  tusks  in  the  lower  jaw 
are  used  for  fighting,  but  they  become  in  old  age,  as 
Brehm  states,  so  much  curved  inward  and  upward,  over 
the  snout,  that  they  can  no  longer  be  thus  used.  They 
may,  however,  still  continue  to  serve,  and  even  in  a  still 
more  effective  manner,  as  a  means  of  defence.  In  com- 
pensation for  the  loss  of  the  lower  tusks  as  weapons  of 
offence,  those  in  the  upper  jaw,  which  always  project  a 


Fig.  63. — Head  of  coinmnn-wilrt  boar,  in 
prime  of  life  (from  Breiim). 


253 


SEXUAL  SECECTION:   MAMMALS. 


[Part  IL 


little  latcrnlly,  increase  so  much  in  length  during  old  age, 
and  curve  so  much  upward,  that  they  can  be  used  as  a 
means  of  attack.  Nevertheless  an  old  boar  is  not  so  dan- 
gerous to  man  as  one  at  the  age  of  six  or  seven  years."* 

In  the  full-grown  male  Babirusa  pig  of  Celebes  (Fig. 
64),  the  lower  tusks  are  formidable  weapons,  like  those  of 


Fig.  64.— Skull  ol  the  babirtiga  Pig  (from  Wallace's  '  Malay  Archipelago '). 

the  European  boar  in  the  prime  of  life,  while  the  upper 
tusks  are  so  long  and  have  their  points  so  much  curled 
inward,  sometimes  even  touching  the  forehead,  that  they 
are  utterly  useless  as  weapons  of  attack.  They  more  near- 
ly resemble  horns  than  teeth,  and  are  so  manifestly  useless 
as  teeth  that  the  animal  was  formerly  supposed  to  rest 
his  head  by  hooking  them  on  to  a  branch.     Their  convex 

«  Brehm,  '  Thierleben,'  B.  ii.  s.  "729,  "732. 


Chap.  XVII.]  MEANS   OF  DEFENCE.  253 

surfaces  would,  however,  if  the  head  were  held  a  little 
laterally,  serve  as  an  excellent  guard;  and  hence,  per- 
haps, it  is  that  in  old  animals  they  "  are  generally  broken 
off,  as  if  by  fighting." '"  Here,  then,  we  have  the  curious 
case  of  the  upper  tusks  of  the  Babirusa  regularly  assum- 
ing, during  the  prime  of  life,  a  structure  which  apparently 
renders  them  fitted  only  for  defence ;  while  in  the  Euro- 
pean boar  the  lower  and  opposite  tusks  assume  in  a  less 
degree  and  only  during  old  age  nearly  the  same  form,  and 
then  serve  in  like  manner  solely  for  defence. 


Fig.  65.— Head  of  Ethiopian  Wart-hoa:,  from  'Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1869.  (I  now 
find  that  this  drawing  represents  the  head  of  a  female,  but  it  serves  to  show, 
on  a  reduced  scale,  the  characters  of  the  male.) 

In  the  wart-hog  [Phaeochoerus  mthiopicus.  Fig.  65) 
the  tusks  in  the  upper  jaw  of  the  male  curve  upward  dur- 
ing the  prime  of  life,  and,  from  being  pointed,  serve  as  for- 
midable weapons.  The  tusks  in  the  lower  jaw  are  sharper 
than  those  in  the  upper,  but  from  their  shortness  it  seems 
harHly  possible  that  they  can  be  used  as  weapons  of  at- 
tack.   They  must,  however,  greatly  strengthen  those  in  the 

'*  See  Mr.  Wallace's  interesting  account  of  this  animal,  '  The  Malay 
Archipelago,'  1869,  vol.  i.  p.  435. 


254  SEXUAL   SELEGTIOX:   MAMMALS.  [Pakt  IL 

upper  jaw,  from  being  ground  so  as  to  fit  closely  against 
their  bases.  Neither  the  upper  nor  the  lower  tusks  ap- 
pear to  have  been  specially  modified  to  act  as  guards, 
though,  no  doubt,  they  are  thus  used  to  a  certain  extent. 
But  the  wart-hog  is  not  destitute  of  other  special  means 
of  protection,  for  there  exists,  on  each  side  of  the  face,  be- 
neatli  the  eyes,  a  rather  stiff,  yet  flexible,  cartilaginous, 
oblong  pad  (Fig.  65),  whicli  projects  two  or  three  inches 
outward ;  and  it  appeared  to  Mr.  Bartlett  and  myself, 
when  viewing  the  living  animal,  that  these  pads,  when 
struck  from  beneath  by  the  tusks  of  au  opponent,  would 
be  turned  upward,  and  would  thus  protect  in  an  admira- 
ble manner  the  somewhat  prominent  eyes.  These  boars, 
as  I  may  add  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Bartlett,  when  fight- 
ing together,  stand  directly  face  to  face. 

Lastly,  the  African  river-hog  {Potamochoerus  penicil- 
latus) has  a  hard  cartilaginous  knob  on  each  side  of  the 
face  beneath  the  eyes,  which  answers  to  the  flexible  pad 
of  the  wart-hog ;  it  has  also  two  bony  prominences  on  the 
upper  jaw  above  the  nostrils.  A  boar  of  this  species  in 
the  Zoological  Gardens  recently  broke  into  the  cage  of 
the  wart-hog.  They  fought  all  night-long,  and  were 
found  in  the  morning  much  exhausted,  but  not  seriously 
wounded.  It  is  a  significant  fact,  as  showing  the  purpose 
of  the  above-described  projections  and  excrescences,  that 
these  were  covered  with  blood,  and  were  scored  and 
abraded  in  an  extraordinary  manner. 

The  mane  of  the  lion  forms  a  good  defence  against  the 
one  danger  to  which  he  is  liable,  namely,  the  attacks  of 
rival  lions  :  for  the  males,  as  Sir.  A.  Smith  informs  me, 
engage  in  terrible  battles,  and  a  young  lion  dares  not  ap- 
proach an  old  one.  In  1857  a  tiger  at  Bromwich  broke 
into  the  cage  of  a  lion,  and  a  fearful  scene  ensued ;  "  the 
lion's  mane  saved  his  neck  and  head  from  being  much  in- 
jured, but  the  tiger  at  last  succeeded  in  ripping  up  his 


Chap.  XVII.]  MEANS  OF  DEFENCE.  255 

belly,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  was  dead."  "  The  broad 
ruff  round  the  throat  and  chin  of  the  Canadian  lynx  (Felis 
Canadensis)  is  much  longer  in  the  male  than  in  the  fe- 
male ;  but  whether  it  serves  as  a  defence  I  do  not  know. 
Male  seals  are  well  known  to  fight  despei-ately  together, 
and  the  males  of  certain  kinds  {Otaria  jubatay^  have 
great  manes,  while  the  females  have  small  ones  or  none. 
The  male  baboon  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ( Cynocepha- 
lus  porcarius)  has  a  much  longer  mane  and  larger  canine 
teeth  than  the  female  ;  and  the  mane  probably  serves  as  a 
protection,  for  on  asking  the  keepers  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens,  without  giving  them  any  clew  to  my  object, 
whether  any  of  the  monkeys  especially  attacked  each 
other  by  the  nape  of  the  neck,  I  was  answered  that  this 
was  not  the  case,  excepting  with  the  above  baboon.  In 
the  Hamadryas  baboon,  Ehrenberg  compares  the  mane  of 
the  adult  male  to  that  of  a  young  lion,  while  in  the  young 
of  both  sexes  and  in  the  female  the  mane  is  almost  absent. 

It  appeared  to  me  probable  that  the  immense  woolly 
mane  of  the  male  American  bison,  which  reaches  almost 
to  the  ground,  and  is  much  more  developed  in  the  males 
than  in  the  females,  served  as  a  protection  to  them  in  their 
terrible  battles;  but  an  experienced  hunter  told  Judge 
Caton  that  he  had  never  observed  any  thing  which  favored 
this  belief.  The  stallion  has  a  thicker  and  fuller  mane  than 
the  mare;  and  I  have  made  particular  inquiries  of  two 
great  trainers  and  breeders  who  have  had  charge  of  many 
entire  horses,  and  am  assured  that  they  "  invariably  en- 
deavor to  seize  one  another  by  the  neck."  It  does  not, 
however,  follow  from  the  foregoing  statements,  that  when 

^^  'The  Times,'  Nov.  10,  1857.  In  regard  to  the  Canada  lynx,  see 
Audubon  and  Bachman,  '  Quadrupeds  of  North  America,'  1846,  p.  139. 

S3  Dr.  Murie,  on  Otaria,  'Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc'  1869,  p.  109.  Mr.  J.  A. 
Allen,  in  the  paper  above  quoted  (p.  75),  doubts  whether  the  hair,  which 
is  longer  on  the  neck  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  deserves  to  be  called 


256  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

the  hair  on  the  neck  serves  as  a  defence,  that  it  was  origi- 
nally developed  for  this  purpose,  though  this  is  probable 
in  some  cases,  as  in  that  of  the  lion.  I  am  informed  by 
Mr.  McNeill  that  the  long  hairs  on  the  throat  of  the  stag 
(Cerviis  elephas)  serve  as  a  great  protection  to  him  when 
hunted,  for  the  dogs  generally  endeavor  to  seize  him  by 
the  throat ;  but  it  is  not  probable  that  these  hairs  were  spe- 
cially developed  for  this  purpose;  otherwise  the  young 
and  the  females  would,  as  we  may  feel  assured,  have  been 
equally  protected. 

On  Preference  or  Choice  in  Pairing,  as  shown  hy  either 
Sex  of  Quadrupeds. — Before  describing,  in  the  next  chap- 
ter, the  differences  between  the  sexes  in  voice,  odor  emit- 
ted, and  ornamentation,  it  will  be  convenient  here  to  con- 
sider whether  the  sexes  exert  any  choice  in  their  unions. 
Does  the  female  prefer  any  particular  male,  either  before 
or  after  the  males  may  have  fought  together  for  supremacy ; 
or  docs  the  male,  when  not  a  polygamist,  select  any  par- 
ticular female  ?  The  general  impression  among  breeders 
seems  to  be  that  the  male  accepts  any  female ;  and  this, 
owing  to  his  eagerness,  is  in  most  cases  probably  the  truth. 
Whether  the  female  as  a  general  rule  indifferently  accepts 
any  male  is  much  more  doubtful.  In  the  fourteenth  chap- 
ter, on  Birds,  a  considerable  body  of  direct  and  indirect 
evidence  was  advanced,  showing  that  the  female  selects 
her  partner ;  and  it  would  be  a  strange  anomaly  if  female 
quadrupeds,  which  stand  higher  in  the  scale  of  organiza- 
tion and  have  higher  mental  powers,  did  not  generally,  or 
at  least  often,  exert  some  choice.  The  female  could  in 
most  cases  escape,  if  wooed  by  a  male  that  did  not  please 
or  excite  her ;  and  when  pursued,  as  so  incessantly  occurs, 
by  several  males,  she  would  often  have  the  opportunity, 
while  they  were  fighting  together,  of  escaping  with,  or  at 
least  of  temporarily  pairing  with,  some  one  male.     This 


Chap.  XVII.]  PREFERENCES   IN   PAIRING.  257 

latter  contingency  has  often  been  observed  in  Scotland 
with  female  red-deer,  as  I  have  been  informed  by  Sir  Philip 
Egerton.'" 

It  is  scarcely  possible  that  much  should  be  known 
about  female  quadrupeds  exerting  in  a  state  of  nature  any 
choice  in  their  marriage  unions.  The  following  very  cu- 
rious details  on  the  courtship  of  one  of  the  eared  seals 
Callorhimis  ursinus,  are  given  "  on  the  authority  of  Cap- 
tain Bryant,  who  had  ample  opportunities  for  observation. 
He  says :  "  Many  of  the  females  on  their  arrival  at  the  isl- 
and where  they  breed  appear  desirous  of  returning  to  some 
particular  male,  and  frequently  climb  the  outlying  rocks  to 
overlook  the  rookeries,  calling  out  and  listening  as  if  for  a 
familiar  voice.  Then,  changing  to  another  place,  they  do 
the  same  again  ....  As  soon  as  a  female  reaches  the  shore, 
the  nearest  male  goes  down  to  meet  her,  making  mean- 
while a  noise  like  the  clucking  of  a  hen  to  her  chickens. 
He  bows  to  her  and  coaxes  her  until  he  gets  between  her 
and  the  water  so  that  she  cannot  escape  him.  Then  his  man- 
ner changes,  and  with  a  hai*sh  growl  he  drives  her  to  a 
place  in  his  harem.  This  continues  until  the  lower  row  of 
harems  is  nearly  full.  Then  the  males  higher  up  select  the 
time  when  their  more  fortunate  neighbors  are  off  their 
guard  to  steal  their  wives.  This  they  do  by  taking  them 
in  their  mouths  and  lifting  them  over  the  heads  of  the 
other  females,  and  carefully  placing  them  in  their  own 
harem,  carrying  them  as  cats  do  their  kittens.  Those  still 
higher  up  pursue  the  same  method  until  the  whole  space 

2'  Mr.  Boner  in  his  excellent  description  of  the  habits  of  the  red-deer 
in  Germany  ('  Forest  Creatures,'  1861,  p.  81)  says,  "While  the  stag  is  de- 
fending his  rights  against  one  intruder,  another  invades  the  sanctuary  of 
his  harem,  and  carries  off  trophy  after  trophy."  Exactly  the  same  thing 
occurs  with  seals,  see  Mr.  J.  A.  Allen,  ibid.  p.  100. 

*>  Mr.  J;  A.  Allen  in  '  Bull.  Mas.  Comp.  Zoolog.  of  Cambridge,  United 
States,'  vol.  ii.  No.  1,  p.  99. 


258  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   MAMMALS.  [Paut  IL 

is  occupied.  Frequently  a  struggle  ensues  between  the 
two  males  for  the  possession  of  the  same  female,  and  both 
seizing  her  at  once  ]>ull  her  in  two  or  terribly  lacerate  her 
with  their  teeth.  When  the  space  is  all  filled,  the  old 
male  walks  around  complacently  reviewing  his  family, 
scolding  those  who  crowd  or  disturb  the  others,  and  fierce- 
ly driving  off  all  intruders.  This  surveillance  always 
keeps  him  actively  occupied." 

As  so  little  is  known  about  the  courtship  of  animals  in 
a  state  of  nature,  I  have  endeavored  to  discover  how  far 
our  domesticated  quadrupeds  evince  any  choice  in  their 
unions.  Dogs  offer  the  best  opportunity  for  observation, 
as  they  are  carefully  attended  to  and  well  understood. 
Many  breeders  have  expressed  a  strong  opinion  on  this 
head.  Thus  Mr.  Mayhew  remarks,  "  The  females  are  able 
to  bestow  their  affections ;  and  tender  recollections  are  as 
potent  over  them  as  they  are  known  to  be  in  other  cases, 
where  higher  animals  are  concerned.  Bitches  are  not 
always  prudent  in  their  loves,  but  are  apt  to  fling  them- 
selves away  on  curs  of  low  degree.  If  reared  with  a 
comi)anion  of  vulgar  appearance,  there  often  springs  up 
between  the  pair  a  devotion  which  no  time  can  afterward 
subdue.  The  passion,  for  such  it  really  is,  becomes  of  a 
more  than  romantic  endurance."  Mr,  Mayhew,  who  at- 
tended chiefly  to  the  smaller  breeds,  is  convinced  that  the 
females  are  strongly  attracted  by  males  of  large  size."  The 
well-known  veterinary  Blaine  states  "  that  his  own  female 
pug  became  so  attached  to  a  spaniel,  and  a  female  setter 
to  a  cur,  that  in  neither  case  would  they  pair  with  a  dog 
of  their  own  breed  until  several  weeks  had  elapsed.  Two 
similar  and  trustworthy  accounts  have  been  given  me  in 

*>  '  Dogs :  their  Management^'  by  E.  Mayhew,  M.  R.  C.  V.  S.,  2d  edit 
1864,  pp.  187-192. 

«'  Quoted  by  Alex.  Walker  'On  Intermarriage,'  1838,  p.  276;  see  alflo 
p.  244. 


Chap.  XVII.]  PKEFERENCES  .IN   PAIRING.  259 

regard  to  a  female  retriever  and  a  spaniel,  both  of  which 
became  enamoured  with  terrier-dogs. 

Mr.  Cupples  infoi'ms  me  that  he  can  personally  vouch 
for  the  accuracy  of  the  following  more  remarkable  case, 
in  which  a  valuable  and  wonderfully-intelligent  female 
terrier  loved  a  retriever,  belonging  to  a  neighbor,  to  such 
degree  that  she  had  often  to  be  dragged  away  from  him. 
After  their  permanent  separation,  although  repeatedly 
thowing  milk  in  her  teats,  she  would  never  acknowledge 
she  courtship  of  any  other  dog,  and,  to  the  regret  of  her 
owner,  never  bore  puppies.  Mr,  Cupples  also  states  that 
a  female  deer-hound  now  (1868)  in  his  kennel  has  thrice 
produced  puppies,  and  on  each  occasion  showed  a  marked 
preference  for  one  of  the  largest  and  handsomest,  but  not 
the  most  eager,  of  four  deer-hounds  living  with  her,  all  in 
the  prime  of  life.  Mr.  Cupples  has  observed  that  the  fe- 
male generally  favors  a  dog  whom  she  has  associated  with 
and  knows ;  her  shyness  and  timidity  at  first  incline  her 
against  a  strange  dog.  The  male,  on  the  contrary,  seems 
rather  inclined  toward  strange  females.  It  appears  to  be 
rare  when  the  male  refuses  any  particular  female,  but  Mr. 
"Wright,  of  Yeldersley  House,  a  great  breeder  of  dogs,  in- 
forms me  that  he  has  known  some  instances ;  he  cites  the 
case  of  one  of  his  own  deer-hounds,  who  would  not  take 
any  notice  of  a  particular  female  mastiff,  so  that  another 
deer-hound  had  to  be  employed.  It  would  be  superfluous 
to  give  other  cases,  and  I  will  only  add  that  Mr.  Barr, 
who  has  carefully  bred  many  blood-hounds,  states  that  in 
almost  every  instance  particular  individuals  of  the  oppo- 
site sex  show  a  decided  preference  for  each  other.  Finally 
Mr.  Cupples,  after  attending  to  this  subject  for  another 
year,  has  recently  written  to  me :  "I  have  had  full  con- 
firmation of  my  former  statements,  that  dogs  in  breeding 
form  decided  preferences  for  each  other,  being  often  in- 
fluenced by  size,  bright  color,  and  individual  character,  as 
well  as  by  the  degree  of  their  previous  familiarity." 


260  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAMMALS.  [Pabi  IL 

In  regard  to  horses,  Mr.  Blcnkiron,  the  greatest  breed- 
er of  race-horses  in  the  world,  informs  me  that  stallions 
are  so  frequently  capricious  in  their  choice,  rejecting  one 
mare  and  without  any  apparent  cause  taking  to  another, 
that  various  artifices  have  to  be  habitually  used.  The  fa- 
mous Monarque,  for  instance,  would  never  consciously 
look  at  the  dam  of  Gladiateur,  and  a  trick  had  to  be  prac- 
tised. We  can  partly  see  the  reason  why  valuable  race- 
horse stallions,  which  are  in  such  demand,  should  be  so 
particular  in  their  choice.  Mr.  Blenldron  has  never  known 
a  mare  to  reject  a  horse ;  but  this  has  occurred  in  Mr. 
"Wright's  stable,  so  that  the  mare  had  to  be  cheated. 
Prosper  Lucas "  quotes  various  statements  from  French 
authorities,  and  remarks,  "  On  voit  des  etalons  qui  s'e- 
prennent  d'une  jument,  et  negligent  toutes  les  autres." 
He  gives,  on  the  authority  of  Baelen,  similar  facts  in  re- 
gard to  bulls.  HoflFberg,  in  describing  the  domesticated 
reindeer  of  Lapland,  says,  "  Ftemine  majores  et  fortiores 
mares  praj  cseteris  admittunt,  ad  eos  confugiunt,  a  juniori- 
bus  agitatjc,  qui  lios  in  fugam  conjiciunt."  "  A  clergyman, 
who  has  bred  many  pigs,  assures  me  that  sows  often  reject 
one  boar  and  immediately  accept  another. 

From  tliese  facts  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  with  most 
of  our  domesticated  quadrupeds  strong  individual  antipa- 
thies and  preferences  are  frequently  exhibited,  and  much 
more  commonly  by  the  female  than  by  the  male.  This 
being  the  case,  it  is  improbable  that  the  unions  of  quad- 
rupeds in  a  state  of  nature  should  be  left  to  mere  chance. 
It  is  much  more  probable  that  the  females  are  allured  or 
excited  by  particular  males,  who  possess  certain  charac- 
ters in  a  higher  degree  tlian  other  males ;  but  what  these 
characters  are,  we  can  seldom  or  never  discover,  with  cer- 
tainty. 

*3  '  Traits  de  I'llc^rcd.  Nat.'  torn.  ii.  1850,  p.  296. 
**  *  Amoenitates  Acad.'  vol.  iv.  1788,  p.  160. 


CxiAP.  XVIII.]  VOCAL   ORGANS.  261 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of  Mammals — continued. 

Voice. — ^Eemarkable  Sexual  Peculiarities  in  Seals. — Odor. — Development 
of  the  Hair. — Color  of  the  Hair  and  Skin. — Anomalous  Case  of  the 
Female  being  more  ornamented  than  the  Male. — Color  and  Ornaments 
due  to  Sexual  Selection. — Color  acquired  for  the  Sake  of  Protection. — 
Color,  though  common  to  both  Sexes,  often  due  to  Sexual  Selection. — 
On  the  Disappearance  of  Spots  and  Stripes  in  Adult  Quadrupeds. — 
On  the  Colors  and  Ornaments  of  the  Quadrumana. — Simimary. 

Quadrupeds  use  their  voices  for  various  purposes,  as 
a  signal  of  danger,  as  a  call  from  one  member  of  a  troop 
to  another,  or  from  the  mother  to  her  lost  offspring,  or 
from  the  latter  for  protection  to  their  mother ;  but  such 
uses  need  not  here  be  considered.  We  are  concerned  only 
with  the  difference  between  the  voices  of  the  two  sexes, 
for  instance,  between  that  of  the  lion  and  lioness,  or  of  the 
bull  and  cow.  Almost  all  male  animals  use  their  voices 
much  more  during  the  rutting-season  than  at  any  other 
time ;  and  some,  as  the  gu-affe  and  porcupine,*,  are  said  to 
be  completely  mute  excepting  at  this  season.  As  the 
throats  (i.  e.,  the  larnyx  and  thyroid  bodies'*)  of  stags  be- 
come periodically  enlarged  at  the  commencement  of  the 
breeding-season,  it  might  be  thought  that  their  powerful 
voices  must  be  then  in  some  way  of  high  importance  to 
them ;  but  this  is  very  doubtful.  From  information  given 
to  me  by  two  experienced  observers,  Mr,  McNeill  and  Sir 
P.  Egerton,  it  seems  that  young  stags  under  three  years 

1  Owen,  *  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii.  p.  585.     '  Ibid.  p.  595. 


262  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

old  do  not  roar  or  hollow ;  and  that  the  old  ones  hegin 
bellowing  at  the  commencement  of  the  breeding-season, 
at  first  only  occasionally  and  moderately,  while  they  rest- 
lessly wander  about  in  search  of  the  females.  Their  bat- 
tles are  prefaced  by  lond  and  prolonged  bellowing,  but 
during  the  actual  conflict  they  ai'e  silent.  Animals  of  all 
kinds  which  habitually  use  their  voices,  utter  various 
noises  under  any  strong  emotion,  as  when  enraged  and 
preparing  to  fight ;  but  this  may  merely  be  the  result  of 
their  nervous  excitement,  which  leads  to  the  spasmodic 
contraction  of  almost  all  the  muscles  of  the  body,  as  when 
a  man  grinds  his  teeth  and  clinches  his  hands  in  rage  or 
agony.  No  doubt  stags  challenge  each  other  to  mortal 
combat  by  bellowing  ;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  this  habit 
could  have  led  through  sexual  selection,  that  is,  by  the 
loudest-voiced  males  having  been  the  most  successful  in 
their  conflicts,  to  the  periodical  enlargement  of  the  vocal 
organs  ;  for  the  stags  with  the  most  powerful  voices,  unless 
at  the  same  time  the  strongest,  best-armed,  and  most  coura- 
geous, would  not  have  gained  any  advantage  over  their 
rivals  with  weaker  voices.  The  stags,  moreover,  which 
had  weaker  voices,  though  not  so  well  able  to  challenge 
other  stags,  would  have  been  drawn  to  the  place  of  com- 
bat as  certainly  as  those  with  sti'onger  voices. 

It  is  possible  that  the  roaring  of  the  lion  may  be  of 
some  actual  service  to  him  in  striking  terror  into  his  ad- 
versary ;  for  when  enraged  he  likewise  erects  his  mane 
and  thus  instinctively  tries  to  make  himself  appear  as  ter- 
rible as  possible.  But  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the 
bellowing  of  the  stag,  even  if  it  be  of  any  service  to  liira 
in  this  way,  can  have  been  important  enough  to  have  led 
to  the  periodical  enlargement  of  the  throat.  Some  writ- 
ers suggest  that  the  bellowing  serves  as  a  call  to  the  fe- 
male ;  but  the  experienced  observers  above  quoted  inform 
me  that  female  deer  do  not  search  for  the  male,  though 


Chap.  XVIIL]  VOCAL   ORGANS.  263 

the  males  search  eagerly  for  the  females,  as  indeed  might 
he  expected  from  what  we  know  of  the  habits  of  other 
male  quadrupeds.  The  voice  of  the  female,  on  the  other 
hand,  quickly  brings  to  her  one  or  more  stags,'  as  is  well 
known  to  the  hunters  who  in  wild  countries  imitate  her 
cry.  If  we  could  believe  that  the  male  had  the  power  to 
excite  or  allure  the  female  by  his  voice,  the  periodical  en- 
largement of  his  vocal  organs  would  be  intelligible  on  the 
principle  of  sexual  selection,  together  with  inheritance 
limited  to  the  same  sex  and  season  of  the  year ;  but  we 
have  no  evidence  in  favor  of  this  view.  As  the  case 
stands,  the  loud  voice  of  the  stag  during  the  breeding-sea- 
son does  not  seem  to  be  of  any  special  service  to  him, 
either  during  his  coui'tship,  or  battles,  or  in  any  other 
way.  But  may  we  not  believe  that  the  frequent  use  of 
the  voice,  under  the  strong  excitement  of  love,  jealousy, 
and  rage,  continued  during  many  generations,  may  at  last 
have  produced  an  inherited  effect  on  the  vocal  organs  of 
the  stag,  as  well  as  of  other  male  animals  ?  This  appears 
to  me,  with  our  present  state  of  knowledge,  the  most  prob- 
able view. 

The  male  gorilla  has  a  tremendous  voice,  and  when 
adult  is  furnished  with  a  laryngeal  sac,  as  is  likewise  the 
adult  male  orang.*  The  gibbons  rank  among  the  noisiest 
of  monkeys,  and  the  Sumatra  species  {Hylohates  syndac- 
tylus)  is  also  furnished  with  a  laryngeal  sac ;  but  Mr. 
Blyth,  who  has  had  opportunities  for  observation,  does 
not  believe  that  the  male  is  more  noisy  than  the  female. 
Hence,  these  latter  monkeys  probably  use  their  voices  as  a 
mutual  call ;  and  this  is  certainly  the  case  with  some 
quadrupeds,  for  instance,  with  the  beaver.**    Another  gib- 

8  See,  for  instance,  Major  W.  Ross  King  ('  The  Sportsman  in  Canada,' 
1866,  pp.  53,  131)  on  the  habits  of  the  moose  and  wild-reindeer. 
*  Owen,  '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii.  p.  600. 
^  Mr.  Green,  in  'Journal  of  Linn.  Soc'  vol.  x.  Zoology,  1869,  p.  362. 


264  SEXUAL   SELECTION  :   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

l)on,  the  II.  agilis,  is  highly  remarkable,  from  having  the 
power  of  emitting  a  complete  and  correct  octave  of  musi- 
cal notes,'  which  we  may  reasonably  suspect  serves  as  a 
sexual  charm  ;  but  I  shall  have  to  recur  to  this  subject  in 
the  next  chapter.  The  vocal  organs  of  the  American 
Mycetes  caraya  are  one-third  larger  in  the  male  than  in 
the  female,  and  are  wonderfully  powerful.  These  mon- 
keys, when  the  weather  is  warm,  make  the  forests  resound 
during  the  morning  and  evening  witli  their  overAvhelming 
voices.  The  males  begin  the  dreadful  concert,  in  which 
the  females,  with  their  less  powerful  voices,  sometimes 
join,  and  which  is  often  continued  during  many  hours. 
An  excellent  observer,  Rengger,'  could  not  perceive  that 
they  were  excited  to  begin  their  concert  by  any  special 
cause ;  he  thinks  that,  like  many  birds,  they  delight  in 
their  own  music,  and  try  to  excel  each  other.  Whether 
most  of  the  foregoing  monkeys  have  acquired  their  power- 
ful voices  in  order  to  beat  their  rivals  and  to  charm  the 
females — or  whether  the  vocal  organs  have  been  strength- 
ened and  enlarged  through  the  inherited  effects  of  long- 
continued  use  without  any  particular  good  being  gained 
— I  will  not  pretend  to  say  ;  but  the  former  view,  at  least 
in  the  case  of  the  Ilylohates  aglUs,  seems  the  most  prob- 
able. 

I  may  here  mention  two  very  curious  sexual  pecu- 
liarities occurring  in  seals,  because  they  have  been  sup- 
posed by  some  writers  to  affect  the  voice.  The  nose  of 
tlie  male  sea-elephant  (Jlacrorhinus  proboscldeits),  when 
about  three  years  old,  is  greatly  elongated  during  the 
breeding-season,  and  can  then  be  erected.  In  this  state  it 
is  sometimes  a  foot  in  length.  The  female  at  no  period 
of  life  is  thus  provided,  and  her  voice  is  different.     That 

*  C.  L.  Martin,  '  General  Introduction  to  the  Nat.  Hist,  of  Marnm. 
Animals,'  1841,  p.  431. 

■•  '  Naturgeschichte  der  Saugethiere  von  Paraguay,'  1830,  s.  15,  21. 


Chap.  XVIII.]  ODORS.  EMITTED.  265 

of  the  male  consists  of  a  wild,  hoarse,  gurgling  noise, 
which  is  audible  at  a  great  distance,  and  is  believed  to  be 
strengthened  by  the  proboscis.  Lesson  compares  the 
erection  of  the  proboscis  to  the  swelling  of  the  wattles  of 
male  gallinaceous  birds  while  they  court  the  females.  In 
another  allied  kind  of  seal,  namely,  the  bladder-nose 
{^Gystophora  cristata),  the  head  is  covered  by  a  great 
hood  or  bladder.  This  is  internally  supported  by  the  sep- 
tum of  the  nose,  which  is  produced  far  backward  and  rises 
into  a  crest  seven  inches  in  height.  The  hood  is  clothed 
with  short  hair,  and  is  muscular ;  it  can  be  inflated  until 
it  more  than  equals  the  whole  head  in  size  !  The  males 
when  rutting  fight  furiously  on  the  ice,  and  their  roaring 
"  is  said  to  be  sometimes  so  loud  as  to  be  heard  four  miles 
off"."  When  attacked  by  man  they  likewise  roar  or  bel- 
low ;  and  whenever  irritated  the  bladder  is  inflated. 
Some  naturalists  believe  that  the  voice  is  thus  strength- 
ened, but  various  other  uses  have  been  assigned  to  this 
extraordinary  structure.  Mr.  R.  Brown  thinks  that  it 
serves  as  a  protection  against  accidents  of  all  kinds.  This 
latter  view  is  not  probable,  if  what  the  sealers  have  long 
maintained  is  correct,  namely,  that  the  hood  or  bladder  is 
very  poorly  developed  in  the  females  and  in  the  males 
while  young. * 

Odor. — With  some  animals,  as  with  the  notorious 
skunk  of  America,  the  overwhelming  odor  which  they 
emit  appears  to  serve  exclusively  as  a  means  of  defence. 
With  shrew-mice  (Sorex)  both  sexes  j)ossess  abdominal 

^  On  the  sea-elephant,  see  an  article  by  Lesson,  in  '  Diet.  Class.  Hist. 
Nat.'  torn.  xiii.  p.  418.  For  the  Cystophora  or  Stemmatopus,  see  Dr. 
Dekay,  'Annals  of  Lyceum  of  Nat.  Hist.  New  York,'  vol.  i.  1824,  p.  94. 
Pennant  has  also  collected  information  from  the  sealers  on  this  animal. 
The  fullest  account  is  given  by  Mr.  Brown,  who  doubts  about  the  rudi- 
mentary condition  of  the  bladder  in  the  female,  in  '  Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc' 
1868,  p.  435. 

31 


266  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAMMALS.  [Paut  il. 

scent-glands,  ami  tlierc  can  be  little  doubt,  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  their  bodies  are  rejected  by  birds  and  beasts 
of  prey,  that  their  odor  is  protective ;  nevertheless,  the 
glands  bi'come  enlarged  in  the  males  during  the  breeding- 
season.  In  many  qiuidrupeds  the  glands  are  of  the  same 
size  in  both  sexes;"  but  their  use  is  not  known.  In  other 
species  tlie  glands  are  confined  to  the  males,  or  are  more 
developed  in  them  than  in  the  females ;  and  they  almost 
always  become  more  active  during  the  rutting-season. 
At  this  period  the  glands  on  the  sides  of  the  face  of  the 
male  elephant  enlarge  and  emit  a  secretion  having  a  strong 
musky  odor. 

The  rank  effluvium  of  the  male  goat  is  well  known, 
and  that  of  certain  male  deer  is  wonderfully  strong  and 
persistent.  On  the  banks  of  the  Plata  I  have  perceived 
the  whole  air  tainted  with  the  odor  of  the  male  Cervus 
campestris,  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  to  the  leeward 
of  a  herd ;  and  a  silk  handkei-chief,  in  which  I  carried  home 
a  skin,  though  repeatedly  used  and  washed,  retained, 
when  first  unfolded,  traces  of  the  odor  for  one  year  and 
seven  months.  This  animal  does  not  emit  its  strong  odor 
until  more  than  a  year  old,  and  if  castrated  while  young 
never  emits  it."  Besides  the  general  odor,  with  which 
the  whole  body  of  certain  ruminants  appears  to  be  perme- 
ated during  the  breeding-season,  many  deer,  antelopes, 
sheep,  and  goats,  possess  odoriferous  glands  in  various 
situations,  more  especially  on  their  faces.     The  so-called 

•  As  with  the  castoreum  of  the  beaver,  sec  Mr.  L.  11.  Morgan's  most 
interesting  work,  '  The  American  Beaver,'  1868,  p.  300.  Pallas  ('  Rpie. 
Zoolog.'  fasc.  viii.  1*779,  p.  23)  has  well  discussed  the  odoriferous  glands 
of  maunnals.  Owen  ('Aiiat.  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii.  p.  fi34)  also  gives 
an  account  of  these  glands,  including  those  of  the  elephant,  and  (p.  763) 
those  of  shrew-mice. 

'"  Rengger,  '  Naturgeschichtc  der  Siiugcthicre  von  Paragiiay,'  1830,  9. 
866.  This  observer  also  gives  some  curious  particulars  in  regard  to  the 
odor  emitted. 


Chap.  XVIII.]  ODORS   EMITTED.  267 

tear-sacs  or  suborbital  pits  come  under  this  head.  These 
glands  seci-ete  a  semifluid  fetid  matter,  which  is  sometimes 
so  copious  as  to  stain  the  whole  face,  as  I  have  seen  in  the 
case  of  an  antelope.  They  are  "  usually  larger  in  the  male 
than  in  the  female,  and  their  development  is  checked  by 
castration."  "  According  to  Desmarest  they  are  altogether 
absent  in  the  female  of  Antilope  subgutturosa.  Hence, 
there  can  be  no  doiibt  that  they  stand  in  some  close  rela- 
tion with  the  reproductive  functions.  They  are  also 
sometimes  present,  and  sometimes  absent,  in  nearly-allied 
forms.  In  the  adult  male  musk-deer  {3Iosc/ms  moschife- 
7-ii.s),  a  naked  space  round  the  tail  is  bedewed  with  an 
odoriferous  fluid,  while  in  the  adult  female,  and  in  the 
male,  until  two  years  old,  this  space  is  covered  with  hair, 
and  is  not  odoriferous.  The  proper  musk-sac,  from  its 
position,  is  necessarily  confined  to  the  male,  and  forms  an 
additional  scent-organ.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  mat- 
ter secreted  by  this  latter  gland  does  not,  according  to 
Pallas,  change  in  consistence,  or  increase  in  quantity, 
dui-ing  the  rutting-season ;  nevertheless,  this  naturalist 
admits  that  its  presence  is  in  some  way  connected  with 
the  act  of  reproduction.  He  gives,  however,  only  a  con- 
jectural and  unsatisfactory  explanation  of  its  use.'"'' 

In  most  cases,  when  during  the  breeding-season  the 
male  alone  emits  a  strong  odor,  this  probably  serves  to  ex- 
cite or  allure  the  female.  We  must  not  judge  on  this  head 
by  our  own  taste,  for  it  is  well  known  that  rats  are 
enticed  by  certain  essential  oils,  and  cats  by  valerian, 
substances  which  are  far  from  agreeable  to  us ;  and  that 
dogs,  though  they  will  not  eat  carrion,  snifi"  and  roll  in  it. 

"  Owen,  '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii.  p.  632.  See,  also.  Dr. 
Murie's  observations  on  their  glands  in  '  Proe.  Zoolog.  Soc'  1870,  p.  340. 
Desmarest,  on  the  Antilope  subgutturosa,  '  Mammalogie,'  1820,  p  455. 

'2  Pallas,  '  Spicilegia  Zoolog.'  fasc.  xiii.  1*799,  p.  24  ;  Desmoulins, 
'  Diet.  Class.  d'Hist.  Nat.'  torn.  iii.  p.  586. 


268  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

From  the  reasons  given  wlien  discussing  the  voice  of  the 
stag,  we  may  reject  the  idea  that  the  odor  serves  to  bring 
tlic  females  from  a  distance  to  the  males.  Active  and  long- 
continued  use  cannot  here  have  come  into  play,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  vocal  organs.  The  odor  emitted  must  he  of 
considerable  importance  to  the  male,  inasmuch  as  large 
and  complex  glands,  furnished  with  muscles  for  everting 
the  sac;  and  for  closing  or  opening  the  orifice,  have  in 
some  cases  been  developed.  The  development  of  these 
organs  is  intelligible  tlirough  sexual  selection,  if  the  more 
odoriferous  males  are  the  most  successful  in  winning  the 
females,  and  in  leaving  oftspring  to  inherit  their  gradually- 
perfected  glands  and  odors. 

Development  of  the  Hair. — We  have  seen  that  male 
quadrupeds  often  have  the  hair  on  their  necks  and  shoul- 
ders much  more  developed  than  in  the  females ;  and  many 
additional  instances  could  be  given.  This  sometimes 
serves  as  a  defence  to  the  male  during  his  battles;  but 
whether  the  hair  in  most  cases  has  been  specially  devel- 
oped for  this  purpose  is  very  doubtful.  We  may  feel 
almost  certain  that  this  is  not  the  case,  when  a  thin  and 
narrow  crest  runs  along  the  whole  length  of  the  back  ;  for 
a  crest  of  this  kind  Avould  afford  scarcely  any  i)rotection, 
and  the  ridge  of  the  back  is  not  a  likely  place  to  be  in- 
jured ;  nevertheless  such  crests  are  sometimes  confined  to 
the  males,  or  are  much  more  developed  in  them  than  in 
the  females.  Two  antelopes,  the  Traf/elaphus  scn'ptxs  " 
(see  Fig.  68,  p.  285)  and  Portnx  picta,  may  be  given  as 
instances.  The  crests  of  certain  stags  and  of  the  male 
wild-goat  stand  erect,  when  these  animals  are  enraged  or 
terrified ;  '*  but  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  they  have 

'^  Dr.  Gray,  '  (ilcaninps  from  the  >ronagerie  at  Knowslcy,'  pi.  28. 

'^  .Iudn;e  Caton  on  the  wapiti,  '  Transact.  OUawa  Acad.  Nat.  Sciences,' 
ISr.S,  pp.  36,  40;  Hlvth,  'Land  and  Water,'  on  Capra  (egagrm,  1867, 
p.  37. 


Chap.  XVIII.]  DEVELOPMENT   OF   HAIR.  269 

been  acquired  for  the  sake  of  exciting  fear  in  their  ene- 
mies. One  of  the  above-named  antelopes,  the  Portax 
picta^  has  a  large,  well-defined  brush  of  black  hair  on  the 
throat,  and  this  is  much  larger  in  the  male  than  in  the 
female.  In  the  Ammotragus  tragelaphus  of  North  Africa, 
a  member  of  the  sheep  family,  the  front-legs  are  almost 
concealed  by  an  extraordinary  growth  of  hair,  which  de- 
pends from  the  neck  and  upper  halves  of  the  legs;  but 
Mr.  Bartlett  does  not  believe  that  this  mantle  is  of  the 
least  use  to  the  male,  in  whom  it  is  much  more  developed 
than  in  the  female. 

Male  quadrupeds  of  many  kinds  differ  from  the  females 
in  having  more  hair,  or  hair  of  a  different  character,  on 
certain  parts  of  their  faces.  The  bull  alone  has  curled 
hair  on  the  forehead."  In  three  closely-allied  subgenera 
of  the  goat  family,  the  males  alone  possess  beards,  some- 
times of  a  large  size ;  in  two  other  subgenera  both  sexes 
have  a  beard,  but  this  disappears  in  some  of  the  domestic 
breeds  of  the  common  goat ;  and  neither  sex  of  the  Hemi- 
tragus  has  a  beard.  In  the  ibex  the  beard  is  not  devel- 
oped during  the  summer,  and  is  so  small  at  other  seasons 
that  it  may  be  called  rudimentary."  With  some  monkeys 
the  beard  is  confined  to  the  male,  as  in  the  Orang,  or  is 
much  larger  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  as  in  the  Myce- 
tes  caraya  and  Pithecia  satanas  (Fig.  66).  So  it  is  with 
the  whiskers  of  some  species  of  Macacus,"  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  with  the  manes  of  some  species  of  baboons.  But 
with  most  kinds  of  monkeys  the  various  tufts  of  hair  about 
the  face  and  head  are  alike  in  both  sexes. 

The  males  of  various  members  of  the  Ox  family  (Bo- 

^^  '  Hunter's  Essays  and  Observations,'  edited  by  Owen,  1861,  vol.  i. 
p.  236. 

'^  See  Dr.  Gray's  '  Cat.  of  Mammalia  in  British  Museum,'  part  iii. 
1852,  p.  144, 

"  Rengger, '  Saugethiere,'  etc.,  s.  14  ;  Desmarest, '  Mammalogie,'  p.  66. 


270 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:    MAMMALS. 


[I'AKT  n. 


vidjc),  and  of  certain  antelopes,  are  furnished  with  a  dew- 
lap, or  great  fold  of  skin  on  the  neck,  which  is  much  less 
developed  in  the  female. 

Now,  what  must  we  conclude  Avith  respect  to  such 
sexual  differences  as  these  ?     No  one  will  pretend  that  the 


Fig.  66.— Pithecia  Satanae,  male  (from  Brehm). 

boards  of  certain  male  goats,  or  the  dewlap  of  the  bull, 
or  the  crests  of  hair  along  the  backs  of  certain  male  ante- 
lopes, are  of  any  direct  or  ordinary  use  to  them.  It  is 
possil)le  that  the  immense  beard  of  the  male  Pithecia, 
and  the  large  beard  of  the  male  Orang,  may  protect  their 
tliroats  wlien  fighting ;  for  the  keepers  in  the  Zoological 
(Jurdens  inform  me  that  many  monkeys  attack  each  other 
by  the  throat :  but  it  is  not  probable  that  the  beard  has 


Chap.  XVIII.]  DEVELOPMENT   OF  HAIR.  37I 

been  developed  for  a  distinct  purpose  from  that  which  the 
whiskers,  mustache,  and  other  tufts  of  hair  on  the  face, 
serve ;  and  no  one  will  suppose  that  these  are  useful  as  a 
protection.  Must  we  attribute  to  mere  purposeless  varia- 
bility in  the  male  all  these  appendages  of  hair  or  skin  ? 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  is  possible ;  for,  with  many- 
domesticated  quadrupeds,  certain  characters,  apparently 
not  derived  through  reversion  from  any  wild  parent-foi-m, 
have  appeared  in,  and  are  confined  to,  the  males,  or  are 
more  largely  developed  in  them  tlian  in  the  females — for 
instance,  the  hump  in  the  male  zebu-cattle  of  India,  the 
tail  in  fat-tailed  rams,  the  arched  outline  of  the  forehead 
in  the  males  of  several  breeds  of  sheep,  the  mane  in  the 
ram  of  an  African  breed,  and,  lastly,  the  mane,  long  hairs 
on  the  hinder  legs,  and  the  dewlap  in  the  male  alone,  of 
the  Berbura  goat.^®  The  mane  which  occurs  in  the  rams 
alone  of  the  above-mentioned  African  breed  of  sheep,  is  a 
true  secondary  sexual  character,  for  it  is  not  developed, 
as  I  hear  from  Mr.  Winwood  Reade,  if  the  animal  be  cas- 
trated. Although  we  ought  to  be  extremely  cautious,  as 
shown  in  my  work  on  "  Variation  under  Domestication," 
in  concluding  that  any  character,  even  with  animals  kept 
by  semi-civilized  people,  has  not  been  subjected  to  selec- 
tion by  man,  and  thus  augmented ;  yet  in  the  cases  just 
specified  this  is  improbable,  more  especially  as  the  charac- 
ters are  confined  to  the  males,  or  are  more  strongly  devel- 
oped in  them  than  in  the  females.  If  it  were  positively 
known  that  the  African  ram  with  a  mane  was  descended 
fi'om  the  same  primitive  stock  with  the  other  breeds  of 
sheep,  or  the  Berbura  male  goat  witb  his  mane,  dewlap, 
etc.,  from  the  same  stock  with  other  goats ;  and  if  selec- 

'*  See  the  chapters  on  these  several  animals  in  voL  i.  of  my  '  Varia- 
tion of  Animals  under  Domestication ; '  also  vol.  ii.  p.  '73  ;  also  chap.  xx. 
on  the  practice  of  selection  by  semi-civilized  people.  For  the  Berbura 
goat,  see  Dr.  Gray,  '  Catalogue,'  ibid.  p.  ISV. 


273  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  U. 

tion  has  not  been  applied  to  these  characters,  then  they 
must  be  due  to  simple  variability,  together  with  sexually- 
limited  inheritance. 

In  this  case  it  would  appear  reasonable  to  extend  the 
same  view  to  the  many  analogous  characters  occurring  in 
animals  under  a  state  of  nature.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot 
persuade  myself  that  this  view  is  applicable  in  many 
cases,  as  in  that  of  the  extraordinary  development  of  hair 
on  the  throat  and  fore-legs  of  the  male  Ammotragus,  or 
of  the  immense  beard  of  the  male  Pithecia.  With  those 
antelopes  in  which  tlie  male  when  adult  is  more  strongly 
colored  than  the  female,  and  with  those  monkeys  in  which 
this  is  likewise  the  case,  and  in  which  the  hair  on  the  fiice 
is  of  a  different  color  from  that  on  the  rest  of  the  head, 
being  arranged  in  the  most  diversified  and  elegant  man- 
ner, it  seems  probable  that  the  crests  and  tufts  of  hair 
have  been  acquired  as  ornaments ;  and  this  I  kn6w  is  the 
opinion  of  some  naturalists.  If  this  view  be  correct, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  have  been  acquired,  or 
at  least  modified,  through  sexual  selection. 

Color  of  the  JIair  and  of  the  Naked  Skin. — I  will 
first  give  briefly  all  the  cases,  known  to  me,  of  male  quad- 
ru2)eds  diftering  in  color  from  the  females.  With  Marsu- 
pials, as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Gould,  the  sexes  rarely 
difter  in  this  respect ;  but  the  great  red  kangaroo  offers  a 
striking  exception,  "delicate  blue  being  the  prevailing 
tint  in  those  parts  of  the  female  which  in  the  male  are 
red."  "  In  the  Didelphis  o})ossum  of  Cayenne  the  female 
is  said  to  be  a  little  more  red  than  the  male.  With  Ro- 
dents Dr.  Gray  remarks :  "  African  squirrels,  especially 
those  found  in  the  tropical  regions,  have  the  fur  much 
brighter  and  more  vivid  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  than 

"  Osphranter  rufus,   Gould,   'Mammals  of  Australia,'  vol.  u.  1863. 
Oil  the  Didelphis,  Desmarest,  '  Mammalogie,'  p.  256. 


Chap.  XVIII.]  ORNAMENTAL   COLORS.  273 

at  others,  and  the  fur  of  the  male  is  generally  brighter 
than  that  of  the  female,"  ^°  Dr.  Gray  informs  me  that  he 
specified  the  African  squirrels,  because,  from  their  unusu- 
ally bright  colors,  they  best  exhibit  this  difference.  The 
female  of  the  Mus  minutus  of  Russia  is  of  a  paler  and 
dirtier  tint  than  the  male.  In  some  few  bats  the  fur  of 
the  male  is  lighter  and  brighter  than  in  the  female.''* 

The  terrestrial  Carnivora  and  Insectivora  rarely  exhib- 
it sexual  differences  of  any  kind,  and  their  colors  are  al- 
most always  exactly  the  same  in  both  sexes.  The  ocelot 
{Felis  pardalis)^  however,  offers  an  exception,  for  the  col- 
ors of  the  female,  compared  with  those  of  the  male,  are 
"moins  apparentes,  le  fauve  etant  plus  tei'ne,  le  blanc 
moins  pur,  les  raies  ayant  moins  de  largeur  et  les  taches 
moins  de  diam^tre."  "  The  sexes  of  the  allied  Felis  mitis 
also  differ,  but  even  in  a  less  degree,  the  general  hues  of 
the  female  being  rather  paler  than  in  the  male,  with  the 
spots  less  black.  The  marine  Carnivora  or  Seals,  on  the 
other  hand,  sometimes  differ  considerably  in  color,  and 
they  present,  as  we  have  already  seen,  other  remarkable 
sexual  differences.  Thus  the  male  of  the  Otaria  nigres- 
cens  of  the  southern  hemisphere  is  of  a  rich  brown  shade 
above ;  while  the  female,  who  acquires  her  adult  tints 
earlier  in  life  than  the  male,  is  dark  gray  above,  the  young 
of  both  sexes  being  of  a  very  deep  chocolate  color.  The 
male  of  the  northern  Phoca  Groenlandica  is  tawny  gray, 
with  a  curious  saddle-shaped  dark  mark  on  the  back;  the 
female  is  much  smaller,  and  has  a  very  different  appear- 
ance, being  "  dull  white  or  yellowish  straw-color,  with  a 

2»  'Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.'  Nov.  ISBY,  p.  325.  On  the  Mus 
minutus,  Desmarest,  '  Mammalogie,'  p.  304. 

^'  J.  A.  Allen,  in  '  Bulletin  of  Mus.  Comp.  Zoolog.  of  Cambridge,  Uni- 
ted States,'  1869,  p.  207. 

^^  Desmarest,  '  Mammalogie,'  1820,  p.  223.  On  Felis  mitis,  Rengger, 
ibid.  s.  194. 


274  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

tawny  liuo  on  tlic  Lack;"  tlic  yoinig  at  first  are  pure 
white,  and  can  "  hardly  be  distinguished  among  the  icy 
hummocks  and  snow,  their  color  thus  acting  as  a  protec- 
tion."" 

With  TJuminants  sexual  differences  of  color  occur  more 
commonly  than  in  any  other  order.  A  difierence  of  this 
kind  is  general  with  the  Strepsicerene  antelopes  ;  thus  the 
male  nilghau  [Portax  jyicfa)  is  bluish-gray  and  much 
darker  than  the  female,  with  the  square  white  })atch  on 
the  throat,  the  white  marks  on  the  fetlocks,  and  the  black 
spots  on  the  ears,  all  much  more  distinct.  We  have  seen 
that  in  this  species  the  crests  and  tufts  of  hair  are  likewise 
more  develojjcd  in  the  male  than  in  the  hornless  female. 
The  male,  as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Blyth,  without  shed- 
ding liis  hair,  periodically  becomes  darker  during  the 
breeding-season.  Young  males  cannot  be  distinguished 
fi'om  young  females  until  above  twelve  months  old ;  and 
if  the  male  is  emasculated  before  this  period,  he  never, 
according  to  the  same  authority,  changes  color.  Tlie  im- 
portance of  this  latter  fact,  as  distinctive  of  sexual  color- 
ing, becomes  obvious,  when  we  hear"*  that  neither  the  red 
summer-coat  nor  the  blue  winter-coat  of  the  Virginian  deer 
is  at  all  aftectcd  by  emasculation.  With  most  or  all  of 
the  highly-ornamented  species  of  Tragelaphus  the  males 
are  darker  than  the  hornless  females,  and  their  crests  of 
hair  are  more  fully  develojjed.  In  the  male  of  that  mag- 
nificent antelope,  the  Dcrbyan  Eland,  the  body  is  redder, 
the  whole  neck  much  blacker,  and  the  white  band  which 
separates  these  colors,  broader,  than  in  the  female.  Tn 
the  Cape  Eland  also,  the  male  is  slightly  darker  than  the 
female." 

'^'Dr.  Murie  on  the  Otaria,  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1869,  p.  108.  Mr.  K. 
I?rown,  on  the  P.  Grocnlandka,  ibid.  1868,  p.  417.  Sec  aljJO  on  the  colors 
of  seals,  Dcsmarcst,  ihid.  pp.  24.^,  249. 

"  JikIrc  Caton,  in  'Trans.  Ottawa  Acad,  of  Nat.  Sciences.'  1868,  p.  4. 

«•  Dr.  Gray,  '  Cat  of  Manim.  in  Brit.  Mus.'  part  iii.  1852,  pp.  134-142 ; 


Chap.  XVIII.]  ORNAMENTAL   COLORS.  275 

In  the  Indian  Black-buck  {A.  bezoartica),  wliicli  belongs 
to  another  tribe  of  antelopes,  the  male  is  very  dark,  almost 
black ;  while  the  hornless  female  is  fawn-colored.  We 
have  in  this  species,  as  Mr.  Blyth  informs  me,  an  exactly 
parallel  series  of  facts  as  with  the  Portax  picta,  namely,  in 
the  male  periodically  changing  color  during  the  breeding- 
season,  in  the  effects  of  emasculation  on  this  change,  and 
in  the  young  of  both  sexes  being  undistinguishable  from 
each  other.  In  the  Antilope  nlger  the  male  is  black,  the 
female  as  well  as  the  young  being  brown ;  in  A.  sing-sing 
the  male  is  much  brighter  colored  than  the, hornless  female, 
and  his  chest  and  belly  are  blacker  ;  in  the  male  A.  caama, 
the  marks  and  lines  which  occur  on  various  parts  of  the 
body  are  black  instead  of  as  in  the  female  brown ;  in  the 
brindled  gnu  [A.  gorgon)  "the  colors  of  the  male  are 
neai'ly  the  same  as  those  of  the  female,  only  deeper  and 
of  a  brighter  hue."^®  Other  analogous  cases  could  be 
added. 

The  Banteng  bull  {Bos  sotzdaicus)  of  the  Malayan 
archipelago  is  almost  black,  with  white  legs  and  buttocks ; 
the  cow  is  of  a  bright  dun,  as  are  the  young  males  until 
about  the  age  of  three  years,  when  they  rapidly  change 
color.  The  emasculated  bull  'reverts  to  the  color  of  the 
female.  The  female  Kemas  goat  is  paler,  and  the  female 
Copra  aegagrus  is  said  to  be  more  uniformly  tinted  than 

also  Dr.  Gray,  '  Gleanings  from  the  Menagerie  of  Knowsley,'  in  which 
there  is  a  splendid  drawing  of  the  Oreas  Derbianus :  see  the  text  on 
Tragelaphus.  For  the  Cape  Eland  ( Oreas  canna),  see  Andrew  Smith, 
'  Zoology  of  South  Africa,'  pis.  41,  42.  There  are  also  many  of  these 
antelopes  in  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens. 

2s  On  the  Ant  niger,  see  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1850,  p.  133.  With  re- 
spect to  an  allied  species,  in  which  there  is  an  equal  sexual  difference  in 
color,  see  Sir  S.  Baker,  '  The  Albert  Nyanza,'  1866,  vol.  ii.  p.  327.  For 
the  A.  sing-sing,  Gray, '  Cat.  B.  Mus.'  p.  100.  Desmarest, '  Mammalogie,' 
p.  468,  on  the  A.  caama.  Andrew  Smith,  '  Zoology  of  South  Africa,'  on 
the  Gnu. 


276  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Pabt  IL 

their  respective  males.  Deer  rarely  present  any  sexual 
(lifFcrences  in  color.  Judge  Caton,  bowever,  informs  me 
that  with  the  males  of  the  Wapiti  deer  [Cervus  Canaden- 
sis) the  neck,  belly,  and  legs,  are  much  darker  than  the 
same  parts  in  the  female  ;  but  during  the  winter  the  darker 
tints  gradually  fade  away  and  disappear.  I  may  here 
mention  that  Judge  Caton  has  in  his  park  three  races  of 
the  Virginian  deer,  which  differ  slightly  in  color,  but  the 
differences  are  almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  blue 
winter  or  breeding  coat ;  so  that  this  case  may  be  com- 
pared with  those  given  in  a  previous  chapter  of  closely- 
allied  or  representative  species  of  birds  which  differ  from 
each  other  only  in  their  nuptial  jilumage.'"  The  females 
of  Cerviis  jxiludosics  of  South  America,  as  well  as  the 
young  of  both  sexes,  do  not  possess  the  black  stripes  on 
the  nose,  and  the  blackish-brown  line  on  the  breast  which 
characterize  the  adult  males.^*  Lastly,  the  mature  male 
of  the  beautifully  colored  and  spotted  Axis  deer  is  con- 
siderably darker,  as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Blyth,  than 
the  female ;  and  this  hue  the  castrated  male  never  ac- 
quires. 

The  last  Order  which  we  have  to  consider — for  I  am 
not  aware  that  sexual  differences  in  color  occur  in  the 
other  mammalian  groups — is  that  of  the  Primates.  The 
male  of  the  Ziemur  macaco  is  coal-black,  while  the  female 
is  reddish-yellow,  but  highly  variable  in  color."  Of  the 
Quadrumana  of  the  New  World,  the  females  and  young 
of  Mycetes  caraya  are  grayish-yellow  and  alike  ;  in  the 

'^  'Ottawa  Academy  of  Sciences,'  May  21,  1868,  pp.  3,  5. 

'*  S.  Miiller,  on  the  Banteng,  'Zoog.  Indischen  Archipel'  1839-1844, 
tab.  35  :  see  also  Raflflcs,  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Blyth,  in  '  Land  and  Water,' 
1867,  p.  476.  On  goats.  Dr.  Gray,  'Cat.  Brit.  Mus.'  p.  146  ;  Desmarest, 
'  Mammalogie,'  p.  482.     On  the  Cervus paludosus,  Rengger,  ibid.  s.  345. 

'*  Sclater,  'Proe.  Zool.  Soc'  1866,  p.  1.  The  same  fact  has  also  been 
f\jlly  ascertained  by  MM.  Pollen  and  Van  Dam. 


Chap,  XVIII.]  ORNAMENTAL   COLORS.  277 

second  year  the  young  male  becomes  reddish-brown,  in 
the  tliird  year  black,  excepting  the  stomach,  which,  how- 
ever, becomes  quite  black  in  the  fourth  or  fifth  year.  There 
is  also  a  strongly-marked  difference  in  color  between  the 
sexes  in  Mycetes  senicuhis  and  Cebus  capiccinus  ^  the  young 
of  the  former  and  I  believe  of  the  latter  species  resembling 
the  females.  With  Pithecia  leucocephala  the  young  like- 
wise resemble  the  females,  which  are  brownish-black  above 
and  light  rusty-red  beneath,  the  adult  males  being  black. 
The  ruff  of  hair  round  the  face  of  Ateles  marginatus  is 
tinted  yellow  in  the  male  and  white  in  the  female.  Turn- 
ing to  the  Old  "World,  the  males  of  Hylobates  hoolocJc  are 
always  black,  with  the  exception  of  a  white  band  over  the 
brows ;  the  females  vary  from  whity-brown  to  a  dark 
tint  mixed  with  black,  but  are  never  wholly  black.'"  In 
the  beautiful  Cercojyithecus  Diana  the  head  of  the  adult 
male  is  of  an  intense  black,  while  that  of  the  female  is  dark 
gray ;  in  the  former  the  fur  between  the  thighs  is  of  an 
elegant  fawn-color,  in  the  latter  it  is  paler.  In  the  equally 
beautiful  and  curious  mustache  monkey  {Cercopithecus 
cephus)  the  only  difference  between  the  sexes  is  that  the 
tail  of  the  male  is  chestnut  and  that  of  the  female  gray  ; 
but  Mr.  Bartlett  informs  me  that  all  the  hues  become 
more  strongly  pronounced  in  the  male  when  adult,  while 
in  the  female  they  remain  as  they  were  during  youth. 
According  to  the  colored  figures  given  by  Solomon  MuUer, 
the  male  of  Semnopithecus  chrysomelas  is  nearly  black, 
the  female  being  pale  brown.  In  the  Cercopithecus  cyno- 
surus  and  griseo-viridis  one  part  of  the  body  which  is  con- 
fined to  the  male  sex  is  of  the  most  brilliant  blue  or  green, 

3"  On  Mycetes,  Rengger,  ibid.  s.  14;  and  Brehm,  'Illustrirtes  Thier- 
leben,'  B,  i.  s.  96,  lOY.  On  Ateles,  Desmarest,  '  Mammalogie,'  p.  75. 
On  Hylobates,  Blyth,  '  Land  and  Water,'  1867,  p.  135.  On  the  Semno- 
pithecus, S.  MUller,  '  Zoog.  Indischen  Archipel.'  tab.  x. 


278  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

and  contrasts  strikingly  with  the  naked  skin  on  the  liiiider 
part  of  the  l>ody,  whicli  is  vivid  red. 

Lastly,  in  the  Baboon  family,  the  adult  male  of  Ci/no- 
cephalus  hamadryas  differs  from  the  female  not  only  by 
his  immense  mane,  but  slightly  in  the  color  of  the  hair 
and  of  the  naked  callosities.  In  the  drill  ( Cynocephalus 
leucophceus)  the  females  and  young  are  much  paler- 
colored,  with  less  green,  than  the  adult  males.  No 
other  member  of  the  whole  class  of  mammals  is  colored 
in  so  extraordinary  a  manner  as  the  adult  male  mandrill 
( Cynoceplialus  viormon).  The  face  at  this  age  becomes 
of  a  fine  blue,  with  the  ridge  and  tip  of  the  nose  of  the 
most  brilliant  red.  According  to  some  authors,  the  face 
is  also  marked  with  whitish  stripes,  and  is  shaded  in  parts 
with  black,  but  the  colors  appear  to  be  variable.  On  the 
forehead  there  is  a  crest  of  hair,  and  on  the  chin  a  yellow 
beard.  "  Toutes  les  parties  superieures  de  leurs  cuisscs  et 
le  grand  espace  nu  de  leurs  fesses  sont  ^galeraent  colores 
du  rouge  le  plus  vif,  avec  un  melange  de  bleu  qui  ne 
manque  reellement  pas  d'el6gance."  ^*  Wlien  the  animal 
is  excited  all  the  naked  parts  become  much  more  vividly 
tinted.  Several  authors  have  used  the  strongest  expres- 
sions in  describing  these  resplendent  colors,  which  they 
compare  with  those  of  the  most  brilliant  birds.  Another 
most  remarkable  peculiarity  is  that  when  the  great  ca- 
nine teeth  are  fully  developed,  immense  protuberances  of 
bone  are  formed  on  each  cheek,  which  are  deeply  fur- 
rowed longitudinally,  and  the  naked  skin  over  them  is 
brilliantly  colored,  as  just  described.  (Fig.  67.)  In  the 
adult  females  and  in  the  young  of  both  sexes  these  protu- 
berances are  scarcely  perceptible;  and  the  naked  parts 
are  much  less  brightly  colored,  the  face   being   almost 

*'  Gervais,  'Hist.  Nat.  des  Maminiftrcs,'  1854,  p.  103.  Figures  are 
given  of  the  skull  of  the  male.  Dcsinarest,  '  Marainalogie,'  p.  70. 
Geofifroy  St.-Ililaire  aud  F.  Cuvier,  'Hist.  Nat.  dcs  Mauun.'  1824,  toiu.  i. 


Chap.  XVIII.] 


ORNAMENTAL   COLORS. 


279 


black,  tinged  with  blue.  In  the  adult  female,  however, 
the  nose  at  certain  regular  intervals  of  time  becomes 
tinted  with  red. 

In  all  the  cases  hitherto  given  the  male  is  more  strong- 
ly or  brightly  colored  than  the  female,  and  differs  in  a 


Fig.  67.— Head  of  male  Mandrill  (from  Gervais  '  Hist.  Nat  des  Mammiferes'). 

greater  degree  from  the  young  of  both  sexes.  But  as  a 
reversed  style  of  coloring  is  characteristic  of  the  two 
sexes  with  some  few  birds,  so  with  the  Rhesus  monkey 
{Macaeus  rhesus)  the  female  has  a  large  surface  of  naked 


280  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

skin  rouiul  the  tail,  of  a  brilliant  carmine  red,  which  pe- 
riodically becomes,  as  I  was  assured  by  the  keepers  in  the 
Zoological  Gardens,  even  more  vivid,  and  her  face  is  also 
pale  red.  On  the  other  hand,  with  the  adult  male  and  with 
the  young  of  both  sexes,  as  I  saw  in  the  Gardens,  neither 
the  naked  skin  at  the  posterior  end  of  the  body,  nor  the 
face,  shows  a  trace  of  red.  It  appears,  however,  from  some 
published  accounts,  that  the  male  does  occasionally,  or 
during  certain  seasons,  exhibit  some  traces  of  the  red. 
Although  he  is  thus  less  ornamented  than  the  female,  yet 
in  the  larger  size  of  his  body,  larger  canine  teeth,  more 
developed  whiskers,  more  prominent  superciliary  ridges, 
he  follows  the  common  rule  of  the  male  excelling  the 
female. 

I  have  now  given  all  the  cases  known  to  me  of  a  dif- 
ference in  color  between  the  sexes  of  mammals.  The 
colors  of  the  female  either  do  not  differ  in  a  sufficient 
degree  from  those  of  the  male,  or  are  not  of  a  suitable 
nature  to  afford  her  jjrotection,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
explained  on  this  principle.  In  some,  perhaps  in  many 
cases,  the  differences  may  be  the  result  of  variations  con- 
fined to  one  sex  and  transmitted  to  the  same  sex,  without 
any  good  having  been  thus  gained,  and  therefore  without 
the  aid  of  selection.  We  have  instances  of  this  kind  with 
our  domesticated  animals,  as  in  the  males  of  certain  cats 
being  rusty-red,  while  the  females  are  tortoise-shell  col- 
ored. Analogous  cases  occur  under  nature :  Mr.  Bartlett 
has  seen  many  black  varieties  of  the  jaguar,  leopard,  vul- 
pine, plialaiiger,  and  wombat;  and  he  is  certain  that  all, 
or  nearly  all,  were  males.  On  the  other  hand,  both  sexes 
of  wolves,  foxes,  and  apparently  of  American  squirrels, 
are  occasionally  born  black.  Hence  it  is  quite  possible 
that  with  some  mammals  the  blackness  of  the  males,  es- 
pecially when  this  color  is  congenital,  may  simply  be  the 


Chap.  XVIII.]  ORNAMENTAL   COLORS.  281 

result,  without  the  aid  of  selection,  of  one  or  more  varia- 
tions having  occurred,  which  from  the  first  were  sexually 
limited  in  their  transmission.  Nevertheless,  it  can  hardly 
be  admitted  that  the  diversified,  vivid,  and  contrasted  col- 
ors of  certain  quadrupeds,  for  instance,  of  the  above-men- 
tioned monkeys  and  antelopes,  can  thus  be  accounted  for. 
We  should  bear  in  mind  that  these  colors  do  not  appear 
in  the  male  at  birth,  as  in  the  case  of  most  ordinary  va- 
riations, but  only  at  or  near  maturity ;  and  that,  unlike 
ordinary  variations,  if  the  male  -  be  emasculated,  they 
never  appear  or  subsequently  disajjjjear.  It  is  on  the 
whole  a  much  more  probable  conclusion  that  the  strong- 
ly-marked colors  and  other  ornamental  characters  of 
male  quadrupeds  are  beneficial  to  them  in  their  rivalry 
with  other  males,  and  have  consequently  been  acquired 
through  sexual  selection.  The  probability  of  this  view  is 
strengthened  by  the  diiferences  in  color  between  the  sexes 
occurring  almost  exclusively,  as  may  be  observed  by 
going  through  the  previous  details,  in  those  groups  and 
sub-groups  of  mammals  which  present  other  and  distinct 
secondary  sexual  characters ;  these  being  likewise  due  to 
the  action  of  sexual  selection. 

Quadrupeds  manifestly  take  notice  of  color.  Sir  S. 
Baker  repeatedly  observed  that  the  African  elephant  and 
rhinoceros  attacked  with  special  fury  white  or  gray  horses, 
I  have  elsewhere  shown  ^^  that  half-wild  horses  apparently 
prefer  pairing  with  those  of  the  same  color,  and  that  herds 
of  fallow-deer  of  a  different  color,  though  living  together, 
have  long  kept  distinct.  It  is  a  more  significant  fact  that 
a  female  zebra  would  not  admit  the  addresses  of  a  male 
ass  until  he  was  painted  so  as  to  resemble  a  zebra,  and 
then,  as  John  Hunter  remarks,  "  she  received  him  very 
readily.     In  this  curious  fact,  we  have  instinct  excited  by 

2^  'The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  1868, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  102,  103. 


282  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  U. 

mere  color,  which  had  so  strong  an  effect  as  to  get  the 
better  of  every  thing  else.  But  the  male  did  not  require 
this,  the  female  being  an  animal  somewhat  similar  to  him- 
self, was  sufficient  to  rouse  him."  '' 

In  an  early  chapter  we  have  seen  that  the  mental 
powers  of  the  higher  animals  do  not  differ  in  kind,  though 
so  greatly  in  degree,  from  the  corresponding  powers  of  man, 
especially  of  the  lower  and  barbarous  races ;  and  it  would 
appear  that  even  their  taste  for  the  beautiful  is  not  widely 
different  from  that  of  the  Quadrumana.  As  the  negro  of 
Africa  raises  the  flesh  on  his  face  into  parallel  ridges  "or 
cicatrices,  high  above  the  natural  surface,  which  unsight- 
ly deformities  are  considered  great  personal  attractions  "  " 
— as  negroes,  as  well  as  savages  in  many  parts  of  the 
world,  paint  their  faces  with  red,  blue,  white,  or  black  bars 
— so  the  male  mandrill  of  Africa  appears  to  have  acquired 
his  deeply-furrowed  and  gaudily-colored  face  from  having 
been  thus  rendered  attractive  to  the  female.  No  doubt  it 
is  to  us  a  most  grotesque  notion  that  the  posterior  end  of 
the  body  should  have  been  colored  for  the  sake  of  orna- 
ment even  more  brilliantly  than  the  face ;  but  this  is  really 
not  more  strange  than  that  the  tails  of  many  birds  should 
have  been  especially  decorated. 

"With  mammals  we  do  not  at  present  possess  any  evi- 
dence that  the  males  take  pains  to  display  their  charms 
before  the  female ;  and  the  elaborate  manner  in  which  this 
is  performed  by  male  birds,  is  the  strongest  argument  in 
favor  of  the  belief  that  the  females  admire,  or  are  excit- 
ed by,  the  ornaments  and  colors  displayed  before  them. 
There  is,  however,  a  striking  parallelism  between  mam- 
mals and  birds  in  all  their  secondary  sexual  characters, 
namely,  in  their  weapons  for  fighting  with  rival  males,  in 

'3^ 'Essays  and  Observations  by  J.  Hunter,'  edited  by  Owen,  1861, 
vol.  i.  p.  194. 

"  Sir  S.  Baker,  '  The  Nile  Tributaries  of  Abyssinia,'  1867. 


Chap.  XVIII.]  EQUAL    TRANSMISSION  283 

their  ornamental  appendages,  and  in  tlieir  colors.  In  both 
classes,  when  the  male  differs  from  the  female,  the  young 
of  both  sexes  almost  always  resemble  each  othei*,  and  in  a 
large  majority  of  cases  resemble  the  adult  female.  In  both 
classes  the  male  assumes  the  characters  proper  to  his  sex 
shortly  before  the  age  for  reproduction;  if  emasculated 
he  either  never  acquires  such  characters  or  subsequently 
loses  them.  In  both  classes  the  change  of  color  is  some- 
times seasonal,  and  the  tints  of  the  naked  parts  sometimes 
become  more  vivid  during  the  act  of  courtship.  In  both 
classes  the  male  is  almost  always  more  vividly  or  sti'ongly 
colored  than  the  female,  and  is  ornamented  with  larger 
crests  either  of  hair  or  feathers,  or  other  appendages.  In 
a  few  exceptional  cases  the  female  in  both  classes  is  more 
highly  ornamented  than  the  male.  With  many  mammals, 
and  at  least  in  the  case  of  one  bird,  the  male  is  more  odor- 
iferous than  the  female.  In  both  classes  the  voice  of  the 
male  is  more  powerful  than  that  of  the  female.  Consider- 
ing this  parallelism  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  same 
cause,  whatever  it  may  be,  has  acted  on  mammals  and 
birds ;  and  the  result,  as  far  as  ornamental  characters  are 
concerned,  may  safely  be  attributed,  as  it  appears  to  me, 
to  the  long-continued  preference  of  the  individuals  of  one 
sex  for  certain  individuals  of  the  opposite  sex,  combined 
with  their  success  in  leaving  a  larger  number  of  offspring 
to  inherit  their  superior  attractions. 

Equal  Transmission  of  Ornamental  Characters  to  both 
Sexes. — With  many  birds,  ornaments,  which  analogy  leads 
us  to  believe  were  primarily  acquired  by  the  males,  have 
been  transmitted  equally,  or  almost  equally,  to  both  sexes ; 
and  we  may  now  inquire  how  far  this  view  may  be  ex- 
tended to  mammals.  With  a  considerable  number  of  spe- 
cies, especially  the  smaller  kinds,  both  sexes  have  been 
colored,  independently  of  sexual  selection,  for  the  sake  of 


284  SEXUAL  SELECTION :   MAMMALS.  [1'akt  H. 

protection ;  l)ut  not,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  in  so  many 
cases,  nor  in  nearly  so  striking  a  manner  as  in  most  of  the 
lower  classes.  Auduljon  remarks  tliat  he  often  mistook 
tlie  musk-rat,'"^  while  sitting  on  the  banks  of  a  muddy 
stream,  for  a  clod  of  earth,  so  complete  was  the  resem- 
blance. The  hare  on  her  form  is  a  familiar  instance  of 
concealment  through  color ;  yet  this  princi])le  ])artly  fails 
in  a  closely-allied  species,  namely,  the  rabbit,  for,  as  this 
animal  runs  to  its  burrow,  it  is  made  conspicuous  to  the 
sportsman  and  no  doubt  to  all  beasts  of  prey,  by  its  up- 
turned ])ure-white  tail.  No  one  has  ever  doubted  that  the 
quadrupeds  which  inhabit  snow-clad  regions  have  been 
rendered  w^hite  to  protect  them  from  their  enemies,  or  to 
favor  their  stealing  on  their  prey.  In  regions  where  snow 
never  lies  long  on  the  ground  a  white  coat  would  be  inju- 
rious; consequently  species  thus  colored  are  extremely 
rare  in  the  hotter  parts  of  the  world.  It  deserv'^es  notice 
that  many  quadrupeds,  inhabiting  moderately  cold  regions 
although  they  do  not  assume  a  white  winter  dress,  become 
paler  during  this  season  ;  and  this  apparently  is  the  direct 
result  of  the  conditions  to  which  they  have  long  been  ex- 
j)Osed.  Pallas  '*  states  that  in  Siberia  a  change  of  this  na- 
ture occurs  with  the  wolf,  two  species  of  Mustcla,  the  do- 
mestic horse,  the  Equus  hemioniis,  the  domestic  cow,  two 
species  of  antelopes,  the  musk-deer,  the  roe,  the  elk,  and 
reindeer.  The  roe,  for  instance,  has  a  red  summer  and  a 
grayish-white  winter  coat ;  and  the  latter  may  perhaps 
serve  as  a  protection  to  the  animal  while  wandering 
through  the  leafless  thickets,  sprinkled  with  snow  and 
hoar-frost.  If  the  above-named  animals  were  gradually 
to  extend   their  range  into  regions  perpetually  covered 

2*  Mber  zibethicm,  Audubon  and  Bachnmn, '  The  Quadrupeds  of  North 
America,'  1846,  p.  109. 

**  'Novae  species  Quadrupedum  e  Glirium  ordine,'  1778,  p.  7.  What 
I  have  called  the  roe  ia  the  Capreolxts  Sibiriais  subecatidaius  of  Pallas. 


Chap.  XVIII  ] 


EQUAL   TRANSMISSION. 


285 


with  snow,  the  pale  winter  coats  would  probably  be  ren- 
dered, through  natural  selection,  whiter  and  whiter  by  de- 
grees, until  they  become  as  white  as  snow. 

Although  we  must  admit  that  many  quadrupeds  have 


Fig.  68.— Tragelaphus  Rcriptus,  male  (from  the  Knowsley  Menagerie). 

received  their  present  tints  as  a  protection,  yet  with  a  host 
of  species  the  colors  are  far  too  conspicuous  and  too  sin- 
gularly arranged  to  allow  us  to  suppose  that  they  serve 
for  this  purpose.  We  may  take  as  an  illustration  certain 
antelopes :  when  we  see  that  the  square  white  patch  on 


286  SEXUAL  SELECriON  :   MAMMALS.  [Pabt  IL 

the  throat,  tlie  white  marks  on  tlie  fetlocks,  and  tlie  round 
hhick  s{)ot8  on  the  ears,  are  all  more  distmct  in  the  male 
of  the  Portax.  picta^  than  iu  the  female — when  we  see  that 
the  colors  are  more  vivid,  that  the  narrow  white  lines  on 
the  flank   and  the  broad  white  bar  on  tlie  shoulder  are 


Fio.  69.— Damalis  pygarga,  male  (from  the  Knowsley  Menajrerie). 

more  distinct  in  the  male  Oreas  Derby  arms  than  in  the  fe- 
male— when  we  see  a  similar  difference  between  the  sexes 
of  the  curiously  ornamented  Tragelaphus  scriptus  (Fig, 
68) — we  may  conclude  that  these  colors  and  various 
marks  have  been  at  least  intensified  through  sexual  selec- 
tion. It  is  inconceivable  tliat  such  colors  and  marks  can 
be  of  any  direct  or  ordinary  service  to  those  animals;  and 


Chap.  XVm.]  EQUAL   TRANSMISSION.  287 

as  they  have  almost  certainly  been  intensified  through 
sexual  selection,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  originally 
gained  through  this  same  process,  and  then  partially 
transferred  to  the  females.  If  this  view  be  admitted, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  equally  singular  colors 
and  mai-ks  of  many  other  antelopes,  though  common  to 
both  sexes,  have  been  gained  and  transmitted  in  a  like 
manner.  Both  sexes,  for  instance,  of  the  Koodoo  {Strep- 
siceros  Kudu,  Fig.  62)  have  narrow  white  vertical  lines  on 
their  hinder  flanks,  and  an  elegant  angular  wliite  mark  on 
their  foreheads.  Both  sexes  in  the  genus  Damalis  are  very 
oddly  colored  ;  in  D.  pygarga  the  back  and  neck  are  pur- 
plish-red, shading  on  the  flanks  into  black,  and  abruptly 
separated  from  the  white  belly  and  a  large  wliite  space  on 
the  buttocks ;  the  head  is  still  more  oddly  colored,  a  large 
oblong  white  mask,  narrowly  edged  with  black,  covers  the 
face  up  to  the  eyes  (Fig.  69) ;  there  are  three  white  stripes 
on  the  forehead,  and  the  ears  are  marked  with  white. 
The  fawns  of  this  species  are  of  a  uniform  pale  yellowish- 
brown.  In  Damalis  alhifrons  the  coloring  of  the  head 
differs  from  that  in  the  last  si^ecies  in  a  single  white  stripe 
replacing  the  three  stripes,  and  in  the  ears  being  almost 
wholly  white.  "  After  having  studied  to  the  best  of  my 
ability  the  sexual  differences  of  animals  belonging  to  all 
classes,  I  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  cmiously- 
arranged  colors  of  many  antelopes,  though  common  to 
both  sexes,  are  the  result  of  sexual  selection  primai-ily  ai> 
plied  to  the  male. 

The  same  conclusion  may  perhaps  be  extended  to  the 
tiger,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  animals  in  the  world,  the 
sexes  of  which  cannot  be  distinguished  by  color,  even  by 
the  dealers  in  wild  beasts.     Mi*.  Wallace  believes'*  that 

3'  See  the  fine  plates  in  A.  Smith's  'Zoology  of  South  Africa,'  and  Dr. 
Gray's  '  Gleanings  from  the  Menagerie  of  Knowsley.' 
2^  '  Westminster  Review,'  July  1,  1867,  p.  5. 


288  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   MAMMALS.  [Part  II. 

the  striped  coat  of  the  tiger  "  so  assimilates  with  the  ver- 
tical stems  of  the  bamboo,  as  to  assist  greatly  in  conceal- 
ing him  from  his  approaching  prey."  But  this  view  does 
not  appear  to  me  satisfactory.  We  have  some  slight  evi- 
di'nce  that  his  beauty  may  be  due  to  sexual  selection,  for 
in  two  species  of  Felis  analogous  marks  and  colors  are 
rather  brighter  in  the  male  than  in  the  female.  The  Zebra 
is  conspicuously  striped,  and  stripes  on  the  open  plains  of 
South  Africa  cannot  afford  any  protection.  BurchelP' in 
describing  a  herd  says,  "  Their  sleek  ribs  glistened  in  the 
sun,  and  the  brightness  and  regularity  of  their  striped 
coats  presented  a  picture  of  extraordinary  beauty,  in  which 
probably  they  are  not  surpassed  by  any  other  quadruped." 
Here  we  have  no  evidence  of  sexual  selection,  as  through- 
out the  whole  group  of  the  Equidie,  the  sexes  are  identical 
in  color.  Nevertheless,  he  who  attributes  the  white  and 
dark  vertical  stripes  on  the  flanks  of  various  antelopes  to 
sexual  selection,  will  probably  extend  the  same  view  to 
the  Royal  Tiger  and  beautiful  Zebra. 

We  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  that  when  young 
animals  belonging  to  any  class  follow  nearly  the  same 
habits  of  life  with  their  parents,  and  yet  are  colored  in  a 
difterent  manner,  it  may  be  inferred  that  they  have  re- 
tained the  coloring  of  some  ancient  and  extinct  progeni- 
tor. In  the  family  of  pigs,  and  in  the  genus  Tapir,  the 
young  are  marked  with  longitudinal  stripes,  and  thus 
difter  from  every  existing  adult  species  in  these  two 
groups.  With  many  kinds  of  deer  the  young  are  marked 
with  elegant  white  spots,  of  which  their  parents  exhibit 
not  a  trace.  A  graduated  series  can  be  followed  from  the 
Axis  deer,  both  sexes  of  which  at  all  ages  and  during  all 
seasons  are  beautifully  spotted  (the  male  being  rather 
more  strongly  colored  than  the  female) — to  species  in 
which  neither  the  old  nor  the  young  are  spotted.     I  will 

»»  'Travels  in  South  Africa,'  1824,  vol.  ii.  p.  315. 


Chap.  XVIII.]  SPOTS  AND   STRIPES.  289 

specify  some  of  the  steps  in  this  series.  The  Mantchurian 
deer  ( Cervus  Mantchuriciis)  is  spotted  during  the  whole 
year,  but  the  spots  are  miich  plainer,  as  I  have  seen  in  the 
Zoological  Gardens,  during  the  summer,  when  the  gen- 
eral color  of  the  coat  is  lighter  than  during  the  winter, 
when  the  general  color  is  darker  and  the  horns  are  fully 
developed.  In  the  hog-deer  {Ilyelaphus  porcimcs)  the 
spots  are  extremely  conspicuous  dm-ing  the  summer  when 
the  coat  is  reddish-brown,  but  quite  disappear  during  the 
winter  when  the  coat  is  brown."  In  both  these  species 
the  young  are  spotted.  In  the  "Virginian  deer  the  young 
are  likewise  spotted,  and  about  five  per  cent,  of  the  adult 
animals  living  in  Judge  Caton's  park,  as  I  am  informed 
by  him,  temporarily  exhibit  at  the  period  when  the  red 
svimmer-coat  is  being  replaced  by  the  bluish  winter-coat, 
a  row  of  spots  on  each  flank,  which  are  always  the  same 
in  number,  though  very  variable  in  distinctness.  From 
this  condition  there  is  but  a  very  small  step  to  the  com- 
plete absence  of  spots  at  all  seasons  in  the  adults ;  and 
lastly,  to  their  absence  at  all  ages,  as  occurs  with  certain 
species.  From  the  existence  of  this  perfect  series,  and 
more  especially  from  the  fawns  of  so  many  species  being 
spotted,  we  may  conclude  that  the  now  living  members 
of  the  deer  family  are  the  descendani,s  of  some  ancient 
species  which,  like  the  Axis  deer,  was  spotted  at  all  ages 
and  seasons.  A  still  more  ancient  progenitor  probably 
resembled  to  a  certain  extent  the  IIyo7noschiis  aquaticus 
— for  this  animal  is  spotted,  and  the  hornless  males  have 
large  exserted  canine  teeth,  of  which  some  few  true  deer 
still  retain  rudiments.  It  offers,  also,  one  of  those  inter- 
esting cases  of  a  form  linking  together  two  groups,  as  it  is 

^^  Dr.  Gray,  '  Gleanings  from  the  Menagerie  of  Knowsley,'  p.  64.    Mr. 
BIyth,  in  speaking  ('  Land  and  Water,'  1869,  p.  42)  of  the  hog-deer  of 
Ceylon,  says  it  is  more  brightly  spotted  with  white  than  the  common  hog- 
tleer,  at  the  season  when  it  renews  its  horns. 
32 


290  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMAIi^.  [Part  II. 

intermediate  in  certain  osteological  characters  between 
the  pachyderms  and  ruminants,  which  were  formerly 
thought  to  he  quite  distinct/' 

A  curious  diificulty  here  arises.  If  we  admit  that  col- 
ored spots  and  stripes  have  been  acquired  as  ornaments, 
how  comes  it  that  so  many  existing  deer,  the  descendants 
of  an  aboriginally  spotted  animal,  and  all  the  species  of 
pigs  and  tapirs,  the  descendants  of  an  aboriginally  striped 
animal,  have  lost  in  their  adult  state  their  former  orna- 
ments ?  I  cannot  satisfactorily  answer  this  question.  We 
may  feel  nearly  sure  that  the  spots  and  stripes  disap- 
peared in  the  progenitors  of  our  existing  species  at  or  near 
maturity,  so  that  they  were  retained  by  the  young,  and, 
owing  to  the  law  of  inheritance  at  corresponding  ages,  by 
the  young  of  all  succeeding  generations.  It  may  have 
been  a  great  advantage  to  the  lion  and  puma,  from  the 
open  nature  of  the  localities  which  they  commonly  haunt, 
to  have  lost  their  stripes,  and  to  have  been  thus  rendered 
less  conspicuous  to  their  prey ;  and  if  the  successive  vari- 
ations, by  which  this  end  was  gained,  occurred  rather  late 
in  life,  the  young  would  have  retained  their  stripes,  as  we 
know  to  be  the  case.  In  regard  to  deer,  pigs,  and  tapirs, 
Fritz  Milller  has  suggested  to  me  that  these  animals,  by 
the  removal  through  natural  selection  of  their  spots  or 
stripes,  would  have  been  less  easily  seen  by  their  enemies ; 
and  they  would  have  especially  required  this  protection, 
as  soon  as  the  carnivora  increased  in  size  and  number 
during  the  Tertiary  periods.  This  may  be  the  true  ex- 
planation, but  it  is  rather  strange  that  the  young  should 
not  have  been  equally  well  protected,  and  still  more 
strange  that  with  some  species  the  adults  should  have 
retained  their  spots,  either  partially  or  completely,  during 
part  of  the  year.     We  know,  though  we  cannot  explain 

*'  Falconer  and  Cautley,  '  Proc.  Geolog.  Soc'  1843;  and  Falconer's 
'  Pal.  Memoirs,'  vol.  i.  p.  196. 


Chap.  XVIIL]  QUADRUMANA.  291 

the  cause,  that  when  the  domestic  ass  varies  and  becomes 
reddish-brown,  gray  or  black,  the  stripes  on  the  shoulders 
and  even  on  the  spine  frequently  disappear.  Very  few 
horses,  except  dun-colored  kinds,  exhibit  stripes  on  any 
part  of  their  bodies,  yet  we  have  good  reason  to  believe 
that  the  aboriginal  horse  was  striped  on  the  legs  and  spine, 
and  probably  on  the  shoulders."  Hence  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  spots  and  stripes  in  our  adult  existing  deer, 
pigs,  and  tapirs,  may  be  due  to  a  change  in  the  genei'al 
color  of  their  coats  ;  but  whether  this  change  was  effected 
through  sexual  or  natural  selection,  or  was  due  to  the  di- 
rect action  of  the  conditions  of  life,  or  some  other  unknown 
cause,  it  is  impossible  to  deside.  An  observation  made  by 
Mr.  Sclater  well  illustrates  our  ignorance  of  the  laws  which 
regulate  the  appearance  and  disappearance  of  stripes; 
the  species  of  Asinus  which  inhabit  the  Asiatic  conti- 
nent are  destitute  of  stripes,  not  having  even  the  cross 
shoulder-stripe,  while  those  which  inhabit  Africa  are  con- 
spicuously striped,  with  the  partial  exception  of  A.  tcenio- 
pus,  which  has  only  the  cross  shoulder-stripe  and  generally 
some  faint  bars  on  the  legs  ;  and  this  species  inhabits  the  al- 
most intermediate  region  of  Upper  Egypt  and  Abyssinia." 

Quadrumana. — Before  we  conclude,  it  will  be  advisa- 
ble to  add  a  few  remarks  co  those  already  given  on  the 
ornamental  characters  of  monkeys.  In  most  of  the  spe- 
cies the  sexes  resemble  each  other  in  color,  but  in  some, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  males  differ  from  the  females,  espe- 
cially in  the  color  of  the  naked  parts  of  the  skin,  in  the 
development  of  the  beard,  whiskers,  and  mane.  Many 
species  are  colored  either  in  so  extraordinary  or  beautiful 

*2  'The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  1868, 
vol.  i.  pp.  61-64. 

43  'Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1862,  p.  164.  See,  also.  Dr.  Hartmann,  'Ann. 
d.  Landw.'     Bd.  xliii.  s.  222. 


292 


SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAMMALS. 


[Part IL 


a  manner,  and  an-  iurni^lRMl  with  such  curious  and  elegant 
crests  ot'liair,  that  we  can  hardly  avoid  looking  at  these 
characters  as  having  been  gained  for  the  sake  of  orna- 
ment.    The  accompanying  figures  (Figs.  70  to  74)  serve 


Fio.  70.— Head  of  Semnopithccus  nibicundus.  This  and  the  followinpr  flpmres 
(from  Prof.  Gervaisi  are  jrivcn  to  ghow  the  odd  arrangement  and  develop- 
ment of  lUe  hair  on  the  head. 

to  show  the  arrangement  of  the  hair  on  the  face  and  head 
in  several  species.  It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  these 
crests  of  hair  and  strongly-contrasted  colors  of  the  fur 
and  skin  can  be  the  result  of  mere  variability  without  the 
aid  of  selection ;  and  it  is  inconceivable  that  they  can  be 
of  any  ordinary  use  to  these  animals.  If  so,  they  have 
probably  been  gained  through  sexual  selection,  though 
transmitted  equally,   or  almost  equally,  to   both   sexes. 


Chap.  XVIIL] 


QUADRUMANA. 


293 


With  many  of  the  Quadrumana,  we  have  additional  evi- 
dence of  the  action  of  sexual  selection  in  the  greater  size 
and  strength  of  the  males,  and  in  the  greater  develoj^ment 
of  their  canine  teeth,  in  comparison  with  the  females. 


Fig  71.— Head  of  Semnopithecu6  comatus.      Fig.  72.— Head  of  Cebus  capucinus. 


Fig.  73.— Head  of  Ateles  marginatus. 


Fig.  74— Head  of  Cebus  vellerosus. 


With  respect  to  the  strange  manner  in  which  both 
sexes  of  some  species  are  colored,  and  of  the  beauty  of 
others,  a  few  instances  will  suffice.  The  face  of  the  Cer- 
copithecus  petaiirista  (Fig.  75)  is  black,  the  whiskers  and 
beard  being  white,  with  a  defined,  round,  white  spot  on 


294 


SEXUAL  SELECTION  :   MAMMALS.  [Paut  11. 


the  nose,  covered  with   short  white  hair,  which  gives  to 
the  animal  an  ahiu.sl  hidicrous  aspect.     The  Semnojnthe- 


l"i(i.  75.— Ciicoi)i(hccu8  pctaurista  (I'lom  Brehm). 


Chap.  XVIII.]  QUADRUMANA.  295 

cus  frontatus  likewise  has  a  blackish  face  with  a  long 
black  beard,  and  a  lai'ge  naked  spot  on  the  forehead  of  a 
bluish-white  color.  The  face  of  Macacus  lasiotus  is  dirty 
flesh-colored,  with  a  defined  red  spot  on  each  cheek.  The 
appearance  of  Cercocehus  ^thiops  is  grotesque,  with  its 
black  face,  white  whiskers  and  collar,  chestnut  head,  and  a 
large  naked  white  spot  over  each  eyelid.  In  very  many 
species,  the  beard,  whiskers,  and  crests  of  hair  round  the 
face,  are  of  a  difierent  color  from  the  rest  of  the  head, 
and,  when  different,  are  always  of  a  lighter  tint,^*  beiug 
often  pure  white,  sometimes  bright  yellow,  or  reddish. 
The  whole  face  of  the  South- American  Srachyurus  calvus 
is  of  a  "glowing  scarlet  hue ; "  but  this  color  does  not 
appear  until  the  animal  is  nearly  mature."  The  naked 
skin  of  the  face  differs  wonderfully  in  color  in  the  various 
species.  It  is  often  brown  or  flesh-color,  with  parts  per- 
fectly white,  and  often  as  black  as  that  of  the  most  sooty 
negro.  In  the  Brachyurus,  the  scarlet  tint  is  brighter 
than  that  of  the  most  blushing  Caucasian  damsel.  It  is 
sometimes  more  distinctly  orange  than  in  any  Mongolian, 
and  in  several  species  it  is  blue,  passing  into  violet  or 
gray.  In  all  the  species  known  to  Mr.  Bartlett,  in  which 
the  adults  of  both  sexes  have  strongly-colored  faces,  the 
colors  are  dull  or  absent  during  early  youth.  This  like- 
wise holds  good  with  the  Mandrill  and  Rhesus,  in  which 
the  face  and  the  posterior  parts  of  the  body  are  brilliantly 
colored  in  one  sex  alone.  In  these  latter  cases  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  colors  were  acquired 
through  sexual  selection ;  and  we  ai'e  naturally  led  to 
extend  the  same  view  to  the  foregoing  species,  though 

**  I  observed  this  fact  in  the  Zoological  Gardens ;  and  numerous 
cases  may  be  seen  in  the  colored  plates  in  GeofFroy  St.-Hilaire  and  F, 
Cuvier,  'Hist.  Nat.  des  Mammiferes,'  torn.  i.  1824. 

**  Bates,  '  The  Naturalist  on  the  Amazons,'  1863,  vol.  ii.  p.  310. 


296  SEXUAL  SELECTION  :  MAMMALS.  [Pakt  IL 

both  sexes  when  adult  liave  their  faces  colored  in  llie 
same  nianniT. 

Althougli,  according  to  our  taste,  nuiuy  kinds  of  mon- 
keys are  far  from  beautiful,  other  species  are  universally 
admired  for  their  elegant  ai)i)i'arance  and  briglit  colors. 
The  /Sijnuojnthectis  nemmus,  tliough  peculiarly  colored,  is 
described  as  extremely  pretty ;  the  orange-tinted  face  is 
surrounded  by  long  whiskers  of  glossy  whiteness,  with  a 
line  of  chestnut  red  over  the  eyebrows ;  the  fur  on  the 
back  is  of  a  delicate  gray,  with  a  square  patch  on  the 
loins,  the  tail  and  the  forearms  all  of  a  pure  white ;  a 
gorget  of  chestnut  surmounts  the  chest ;  the  hind-thighs 
are  black,  with  the  legs  chestmit  red.  I  will  mention  only 
two  other  monkeys  on  account  of  their  beauty ;  and  I 
have  selected  these  as  they  present  slight  sexual  differ- 
ences in  color,  which  renders  it  in  some  degree  probable 
that  both  sexes  owe  their  elegant  a2)pearance  to  sexual 
selection.  In  the  mustache-monkey  •(  6'tTco/)^7/tcc^<5  ce- 
2)}n(s),  the  general  color  of  the  fur  is  mottled  greenish, 
with  tlie  throat  white ;  in  the  male  the  end  of  the  tail  is 
chestnut ;  but  the  face  is  the  most  ornamented  part,  the 
skin  being  chiefly  bluish-gray,  shading  into  a  blackish 
tint  beneath  the  eyes,  with  the  upper  lip  of  a  delicate 
blue,  clothed  on  the  lower  edge  with  a  thin  black  mus- 
tache; the  whiskers  are  orange-colored,  with  the  upper 
])art  black,  forming  a  band  which  extends  backward  to 
the  ears,  the  latter  being  clothed  with  whitish  hairs.  In 
the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  I  have  often  overheard 
visitors  admiring  the  beauty  of  another  monkey,  deserv- 
edly called  Cercopithecus  Diana  (Fig.  76) ;  the  general 
color  of  the  fur  is  gray ;  the  chest  and  inner  surface  of 
the  fore-legs  are  white ;  a  large  triangular,  defined  space 
on  the  hinder  part  of  the  back  is  rich  chestnut ;  in  the 
male  the  inner  sides  of  the  thighs  and  the  abdomen  are 
delicate  fawn-colored,  and  the  top  of  the  head  is  black ; 


Chap.  XVIII.] 


SUMMARY. 


297 


the  face  and   ears  are  intensely  black,  finely  contrasted 
with  a  white  transverse  crest  over  the  eyebrows  and  with 


"*^''%: 

^-^1 


J  [I.    it  — (  (  K  (.[jitiii  (.ub  Diaua  (fiom  Bithm). 

a  long  white  peaked  beard,  of  which  the  basal  portion  is 
black." 

■'^  I  have  seen  most  of  the  above-named  monkeys  in  the  Zoological 
Society's  Gardens.  The  description  of  the  Semnopitheciis  nemceus  is  taken 
from  Mr.  W.  C.  Martm's  'Nat.  Hist,  of  Mammalia,'  1841,  p.  460;  see 
also  pp.  475,  523. 


298  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

In  tliosc  and  many  oilier  monkeys,  the  beauty  and 
pinifular  arrangement  of  tlieir  colors,  and  still  more  the 
diversilied  and  ek'gant  arrangement  of  the  crests  and 
tufts  of  hair  on  tlieir  heads,  force  the  conviction  on  my 
mind  that  these  characters  have  been  acquired  through 
sexual  selection  exclusively  as  ornaments. 

Nummary. — The  law  of  battle  for  the  possession  of  the 
female  appears  to  prevail  throughout  the  whole  great 
class  of  mammals.  Most  naturalists  will  admit  that  the 
greater  size,  strength,  courage,  and  pugnacity  of  the  male, 
his  special  weapons  of  offence,  as  well  as  his  special  means 
of  defence,  have  all  been  acquired  or  modified  through 
that  form  of  selection  which  I  have  called  sexual  selec- 
tion. This  does  not  depend  on  any  superiority  in  the 
general  struggle  for  life,  but  on  certain  individuals  of  one 
sex,  generally  the  male  sex,  having  been  successful  in 
conquering  other  males,  and  on  their  having  left  a  larger 
number  of  offspring  to  inherit  their  superiority,  than  the 
less  successful  males. 

There  is  another  and  more  peaceful  kind  of  contest, 
in  Avliich  the  males  endeavor  to  excite  or  allure  the  fe- 
males by  various  charms.  This  may  be  effected  by  the 
powerful  odors  emitted  by  the  males  during  the  breeding- 
season  ;  the  odoriferous  glands  having  been  acquired 
through  sexual  selection.  Whether  the  same  view  can 
be  extended  to  the  voice  is  doubtful,  for  the  vocal  organs 
of  the  males  may  have  been  strengthened  by  use  during 
maturity,  under  the  powerful  excitements  of  love,  jealousy, 
or  rage,  and  transmitted  to  the  same  sex.  Various  crests, 
tufts,  and  mantles  of  hair,  which  are  either  confined  to 
the  male,  or  are  more  developed  in  this  sex  than  in  the 
females,  seem  in  most  cases  to  be  merely  ornamental, 
though  they  sometimes  serve  as  a  defence  against  rival 
males.     There  is  even  riasun  to  suspect  that  the  branch- 


Chap.  XVIII.]  SUMMARY.  299 

ing  horns  of  stags,  and  tlie  elegant  horns  of  certam  ante- 
lopes, though  properly  serving  as  weapons  of  offence  or 
of  defence,  have  been  partly  modified  for  the  sake  of  orna- 
ment. 

When  the  male  differs  in  color  from  the  female,  he  gen- 
erally exhibits  darker  and  more  strongly-contrasted  tints. 
We  do  not  in  this  class  meet  with  the  splendid  red,  blue, 
yellow,  and  green  colors,  so  common  with  male  birds  and 
many  other  animals.  The  naked  parts,  however,  of  cer- 
tain Quadrumana  must  be  excepted ;  for  such  parts,  often 
oddly  situated,  are  colored  in  some  species  in  the  most 
brilliant  manner.  The  colors  of  the  male  in  other  cases 
may  be  due  to  simple  variation,  without  the  aid  of  selec- 
tion. But  when  the  colors  are  diversified  and  strongly- 
pronounced,  when  they  are  not  developed  until  near  ma- 
turity, and  when  they  are  lost  after  emasculation,  we  can 
hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  they  have  been  acquired 
through  sexual  selection  for  the  sake  of  ornament,  and 
have  been  transmitted  exclusively,  or  almost  exclusively, 
to  the  same  sex.  When  both  sexes  are  colored  in  the 
same  manner,  and  the  colors  are  consj^iicuous  or  curiously 
ari'anged,  without  being  of  the  least  apparent  use  as  a  pro- 
tection, and  especially  when  they  are  associated  with  va- 
rious other  ornamental  appendages,  we  are  led  by  anal- 
ogy to  the  same  conclusion,  namely,  that  they  have  been 
acquired  through  sexual  selection,  although  transmitted 
to  both  sexes.  That  conspicuous  and  diversified  colors, 
whether  confined  to  the  mafes  or  common  to  both  sexes, 
are  as  a  general  rule  associated  in  the  same  groups  and 
subgroups  with  other  secondary  sexual  characters,  serv- 
ing for  war  or  for  ornament,  will  be  found  to  hold  good 
if  we  look  back  to  the  various  cases  given  in  this  and  the 
last  chapter. 

The  law  of  the  equal  transmission  of  characters  to 
both  sexes,  as  far  as  color  and  other  ornaments  are  con- 


300  SEXUAL  SELECTION :   MAMMALS.  [Part  IL 

cerned,  has  prevailed  far  more  extensively  with  mammals 
than  with  birds ;  but  in  regard  to  weapons,  such  as  horns 
and  tusks,  these  have  often  lieen  transmitted  either  exclu- 
sively, or  in  a  much  higher  degree,  to  the  males  than  to 
the  female.  This  is  a  surprising  circumstance,  for  as  the 
males  generally  uSe  their  weapons  as  a  defence  against 
enemies  of  all  kinds,  these  weapons  would  have  been  of 
service  to  the  females.  Their  absence  in  this  sex  can  be 
accounted  for,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  only  by  the  form  of 
inheritance  which  has  prevailed.  Finally,  with  quadru- 
peds the  contest  between  the  individuals  of  the  same  sex, 
whether  peaceful  or  bloody,  has  with  the  rarest  excep- 
tions been  confined  to  the  males ;  so  that  these  have  been 
modified  through  sexual  selection,  either  for  fighting  with 
each  other  or  for  alluring  the  opposite  sex,  far  more  com- 
monly than  the  females. 


Chap.  XIX.  ]  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES.  301 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of  Man. 

Differences  between  Man  and  "Woman. — Causes  of  such  Differences  and  of 
Certain  Characters  common  to  both  Sexes. — Law  of  Battle. — Differ- 
ences in  Mental  Powers — and  Voice. — On  the  Influence  of  Beauty  in 
determining  the  Marriages  of  Mankind. — Attention  paid  by  Savages 
to  Ornaments. — Their  Ideas  of  Beauty  in  Woman. — The  Tendency 
to  exaggerate  each  Natural  Peculiarity. 

With  mankind  the  differences  between  the  sexes  are 
greater  than  in  most  species  of  Quadrumana,  but  not  so 
great  as  in  some,  for  instance,  the  mandrill.  Man  on  an 
average  is  considerably  taller,  heavier,  and  stronger  than 
woman,  with  squarer  shoulders  and  more  plainly-pro- 
nounced muscles.  Owing  to  the  relation  which  exists 
between  muscular  development  and  the  projection  of  the 
brows,*  the  superciliary  ridge  is  generally  more  strongly 
marked  in  man  than  in  woman.  His  body,  and  especially 
his  face,  is  more  hairy,  and  his  voice  has  a  different  and 
more  powerful  tone.  In  certain  tribes  the  women  are  said, 
whether  truly  I  know  not,  to  differ  slightly  in  tint  from 
the  men;  and  with  Europeans,  the  women  are  perhaps 
the  more  brightly-colored  of  the  two,  as  may  be  seen  when 
both  sexes  have  been  equally  exposed  to  the  weather. 

Man  is  more  courageous,  pugnacious,  and  energetic 
than  woman,  and  has  a  more  inventive  genius.  His  brain 
is  absolutely  larger,  but  whether  relatively  to  the  larger 

'  Schaaffhausen,  translation  in  '  Anthropological  Review,'  Oct.  1868, 
pp.  419,  420,  42*7. 


303  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAN.  [Part  D. 

size  of  his  l^ody,  in  comparison  with  that  of  woman,  has 
not,  I  holieve,  been  fully  ascertained.  In  woman  the  face 
is  rounder ;  the  jaws  and  the  base  of  the  skull  smaller ; 
the  outlines  of  her  body  rounder,  in  parts  more  prominent ; 
and  her  pelvis  is  broader  than  in  man;'  but  this  latter 
character  may  perhaps  be  considered  rather  as  a  primary 
than  a  secondary  sexual  character.  She  comes  to  maturity 
at  an  earlier  age  than  man. 

As  with  animals  of  all  classes,  so  with  man,  the  dis- 
tinctive characters  of  the  male  sex  are  not  fully  developed 
until  he  is  nearly  mature  ;  and  if  emasculated  they  never 
ai)i>i'ar.  The  beard,  for  instance,  is  a  secondary  sexual 
character,  and  male  children  are  beardless,  though  at  an 
early  age  they  have  abundant  hair  on  their  heads.  It  is 
probably  due  to  the  rather  late  appearance  in  life  of  the 
successive  variations,  by  which  man  acquired  his  masculine 
characters,  that  they  are  transmitted  to  the  male  sex  alone. 
Male  and  female  children  resemble  each  other  closely,  like 
the  young  of  so  many  other  animals  in  which  the  adult 
sexes  differ ;  they  likewise  resemble  the  mature  female 
much  more  closely  than  the  mature  male.  The  female, 
however,  ultimately  assumes  certain  distinctive  characters, 
and  in  the  formation  of  her  skull  is  said  to  be  interme- 
diate between  the  child  and  the  man.'  Again,  as  the  young 
of  closely-allied  though  distinct  sjjecies  do  not  differ  nearly 
80  much  from  each  other  as  do  the  adults,  so  it  is  with 
the  children  of  the  different  races  of  man.  Some  have 
even  maintainiMl  that  race-differences  cannot  be  detected 
in  the  infantile  skull. ^     In  regard  to  color,  the  new-born 

^  Eckcr,  translation  in  'Anthropological  Review,'  Oct.  1868,  pp.  351- 
356.  The  comparison  of  the  form  of  the  skull,  'n  men  and  women  has 
been  followed  out  with  much  care  by  Welcker. 

*  Packer  and  Welcker,  il)id.  pp.  352,  355;  Vogt,  'Lectures  on  Man.' 
Eng.  translat.  j).  81. 

■•  Schaaffhausen,  '  Anthruiiolog.  Review,'  ibid.  p.  429. 


Chap.  XIX.]  SEXUAL   DIFFERENCES.  303 

negro  child  is  reddish  nut-brown,  which  soon  "becomes 
slaty-gray ;  the  black  color  being  fully  developed  within 
a  year  in  the  Soudan,  but  not  until  three  years  in  Egypt. 
The  eyes  of  the  negro  are  at  first  blue,  and  the  hair  chest- 
nut-brown rather  than  black,  being  curled  only  at  the  ends. 
The  children  of  the  Aiistralians  immediately  after  birth 
are  yellowish-brown,  and  become  dark  at  a  later  age. 
Those  of  the  Guaranys  of  Paraguay  are  whitish-yellow, 
but  they  acquire  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  the  yellow- 
ish-brown tint  of  their  parents.  Similar  observations  have 
been  made  in  other  parts  of  America.^ 

I  have  specified  the  foregoing  familiar  differences  be- 
tween the  male  and  female  sex  in  mankind,  because  they 
are  curiously  the  same  as  in  the  Quadrumana.  With 
these  animals  the  female  is  mature  at  an  earlier  age  than 
the  male ;  at  least  this  is  certainly  the  case  with  the  Cehus 
azaroe.^  With  most  of  the  species  the  males  are  larger 
and  much  stronger  than  the  females,  of  which  fact  the 
gorilla  ofiers  a  well-known  instance.  Even  in  so  trifling  a 
character  as  the  greater  prominence  of  the  superciliary 
ridge,  the  males  of  certain  monkeys  difier  from  the  ■  fe- 
males,^ and  agree  in  this  respect  with  mankind.  In  the 
gorilla  and  certain  other  monkeys,  the  cranium  of  the 
adult  male  presents  a  strongly-marked  sagittal  crest,  which 
is  absent  in  the  female  ;  and  Ecker  found  a  trace  of  a  sim- 

^  Pruner-Bey,  on  negro  infants,  as  quoted  by  Vogt,  '  Lectures  on 
Man,'  Eug.  translat.  1864,  p.  189  :  for  further  facts  on  negro  infants,  as 
quoted  from  Winterbottom  and  Camper,  see  Lawrence,  '  Lectures  on 
Physiology,'  etc.  1822,  p.  451.  For  the  infants  of  the  Guaranys,  see 
Kengger,  '  Siiugethiere,'  etc.  s.  3.  See  also  Godron,  '  De  I'Espece,'  torn. 
ii.  1859,  p.  253.  For  the  Australians,  Waitz,  '  Introduct.  to  Anthropol- 
ogy,' Eng.  translat.  1863,  p.  99. 

^  Rengger,  'Siiugethiere,'  etc.  1830,  s.  49. 

'  As  in  Macaem  cynomolgus  (Desmarest,  '  Mammalogie,'  p.  65)  and  in 
Hylohates  agilis  (GeoflFroy  St.-Hilaire  and  F.  Cuvier,  'Hist.  Nat.  des 
Manun.'  1824,  torn.  1.  p.  2). 


304  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  11 

ilar  difference  between  the  two  sexes  in  the  Australians. 
Witli  monkeys,  when  there  is  any  difference  in  the  voice, 
that  of  tlie  male  is  more  jjowerful.  We  have  seen  that 
certain  male  monkeys  have  a  well-develojx'd  heard,  which 
is  quite  deficient,  or  much  less  developed,  in  the  female. 
No  instance  is  known  of  the  beard,  whiskers,  or  mustache 
being  larger  in  a  female  than  in  the  male  monkey.  Even 
in  the  color  of  the  beard  there  is  a  curious  parallelism 
between  man  and  the  Quadrumana,  for  when  in  man  the 
beard  differs  in  color  from  the  hair  of  the  head,  as  is  often 
tlie  case,  it  is,  I  believe,  invariably  of  a  lighter  tint,  being 
often  reddish.  I  have  observed  this  fact  in  England,  and 
Dr.  Hooker,  who  attended  to  this  little  point  for  me  in 
Kussia,  found  no  exception  to  the  rule.  In  Calcutta,  Mr. 
J.  Scott,  of  the  Botanic  Gardens,  was  so  kind  as  to  ob- 
serve with  care  the  many  races  of  men  to  be  seen  there,  as 
well  as  in  some  other  parts  of  India,  namely,  two  races  in 
Sikhim,  the  Bhoteas,  Hindoos,  Burmese,  and  Chinese. 
Although  most  of  these  races  have  very  little  hair  on  the 
face,  yet  he  always  found  that  when  there  was  any  differ- 
ence in  color  between  the  hair  of  the  head  and  the  beard, 
the  latter  Avas  invariably  of  a  lighter  tint.  Now  with 
monkeys,  as  has  already  been  stated,  the  beard  frequently 
differs  in  a  striking  manner  in  color  from  the  hair  of  the 
head,  and  in  such  cases  it  is  invariably  of  a  lighter  hue, 
being  often  ])ure  white,  sometimes  yellow  or  reddish.' 

8  'Anthropological  Review,'  Oct.  18G8,  p.  353. 

'  Mr.  Blyth  informs  me  tliat  he  has  never  seen  more  than  one  instance 
of  tlie  beard,  whiskers,  etc.,  in  a  monkey  becoming  white  with  old  age, 
as  is  so  commonly  the  case  with  us.  This,  however,  occurred  in  an  aged 
and  confined  Macacus  ciinomolgus,  whose  mustaches  were  "  remarkably 
long  and  human-Hke."  Altogether  this  old  monkey  presented  a  ludicrous 
lesemblance  to  one  of  the  reigning  monarchs  of  Europe,  after  whom  he 
was  universally  nicknamed.  In  certain  races  of  man  the  hair  on  the 
head  hardly  ever  becomes  gray ;  thus  Mr.  D.  Forbes  has  never  seen,  as 


Chap.  XIX.]  SEXUAL   DIFFERENCES.  305 

In  regard  to  the  general  hairiness  of  the  body,  the  wom- 
en in  all  races  are  less  hairy  than  the  men,  and  in  some 
few  Quadrumana  the  under  side  of  the  body  of  the  female 
is  less  hairy  than  that  of  the  male.'"  Lastly,  male  mon- 
keys, like  men,  are  bolder  and  fiercer  than  the  females. 
They  lead  the  troop,  and  when  there  is  danger  come  to 
the  front.  We  thus  see  how  close  is  the  j^arallelism  be- 
tween the  sexual  differences  of  man  and  the  Quadrumana. 
With  some  few  species,  however,  as  with  certain  baboons, 
the  gorilla,  and  orang,  there  is  a  considerably  greater  dif- 
ference between  the  sexes,  in  the  size  of  the  canine  teeth, 
in  the  development  and  color  of  the  hair,  and  especially  in 
the  color  of  the  naked  parts  of  the  skin,  than  in  the  case 
of  mankind. 

The  secondary  sexual  characters  of  man  are  all  highly 
variable,  even  within  the  limits  of  the  same  race  or  sub- 
species ;  and  they  differ  much  in  the  several  races.  These 
two  rules  generally  hold  good  throughout  the  animal 
kingdom.  In  the  excellent  observations  made  on  board 
the  N'ovara,  "  the  male  Australians  were  found  to  exceed 
the  females  by  only  sixty-five  millimetres  in  height,  while 
with  the  Javanese  the  average  excess  was  two  hundred 
and  eighteen  millimetres,  so  that  in  this  latter  race  the  dif- 
ference in  height  between  the  sexes  is  more  than  thrice 
as  great  as  with  the  Australians.  The  numerous  measure- 
ments of  various  other  races,  with  respect  to  stature,  the 
circumference  of  the  neck  and  chest,  and  the  length  of  the 
backbone  and  arms,  which  were  carefully  made,  nearly  all 

he  informs  me,  an  instance  with  the  Aymaras  and  Quichuas  of  South 
America. 

'"  This  is  the  case  with  the  females  of  several  species  of  Hylobates, 
see  Geoffroy  St.-Hilaire  and  F.  Cuvier,  '  Hisf.  Nat.  des  Mamm.'  tom.  i. 
Se3,  also,  on  H.  lar.  'Penny  Encyclopfedia,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  149,  150. 

"  The  results  were  deduced  by  Dr.  Weisbach  from  the  measurements 
made  by  Drs.  K.  Scherzer  and  Schwarz,  see  '  Reise  der  Novara :  Anthro- 
polog  Theil.'  1867,  s.  216,  231,  234,  236,  239,  269. 


306  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

showed  that  the  males  differed  much  more  from  each  other 
than  did  the  females.  This  fact  indicates  that,  as  far  as 
these  characters  arc  concerned,  it  is  the  male  which  has 
Leon  chiefly  modified,  since  the  races  diverged  from  their 
common  and  primeval  source. 

The  development  of  the  beard  and  the  hairiness  of  the 
body  differ  remarkably  in  the  men  belonging  to  distinct 
races,  and  even  to  different  families  in  the  same  race.  We 
Europeans  see  this  among  ourselves.  In  the  island  of  St. 
Kilda,  according  to  Martin,"  the  men  do  not  acquire 
beards,  whicli  are  very  thin,  until  the  age  of  thirty  or 
upward.  On  the  Europ»o- Asiatic  Continent,  beards  pre- 
vail luitil  we  pass  beyond  India,  though  with  the  natives 
of  Ceylon  they  are  frequently  absent,  as  was  noticed  in 
ancient  times  by  Diodorus.'^  Beyond  India  beards  dis- 
appear, as  with  the  Siamese,  Malays,  Calmucks,  Chinese, 
and  Jajjanese ;  nevertheless  the  Ainos, "  who  inhabit  the 
northernmost  islands  of  the  Japan  archipelago,  are  the 
most  hairy  men  in  the  w^orld.  With  negroes  the  beard  is 
scanty  or  absent,  and  they  have  no  whiskers ;  in  both 
sexes  the  body  is  almost  destitute  of  fine  down."  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Papuans  of  the  Malay  archipelago,  who 
are  nearly  as  black  as  negroes,  possess  well-developed 
beards.  "  In  the  Pacific  Ocean  the  inhabitants  of  the  Fiji 
archipelago  have  large  bushy  beards,  while  those  of  the 

'•-  'Voyage  to  St.  Kilda'  (3d  edit.  1753),  p.  37. 

'3  Sir  J.  E.  Teunent,  'Ceylon,'  vol.  iL  1859,  p.  107. 

"  Quatrefages,  '  Revue  des  Cours  Scientifiques,'  Aug.  29,  1868,  p. 
630;  Vogt,  'Lectures  on  Man,'  Eng.  translat.  p.  127. 

'*  On  the  beards  of  negroes,  Vogt,  'Lectures,'  etc.  ibid.  p.  127; 
Waitz,  'Introduct.  to  Anthropology,' Engl,  translat.  18C3,  vol.  i.  p.  96. 
It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  United  States  ('  Investigations  in  Military 
and  Anthropological  Statistics  of  American  Soldiers,'  1869,  p.  569)  the 
pure  negroes  and  their  crossed  offspring  seem  to  have  bodies  almost  aa 
hairy  as  those  of  Europeans. 

"=  Wallace,  '  The  Malay  Arch.'  vol.  ii.  1869,  p.  178. 


Chap.  XIX.]  SEXUAL   DIFFERENCES.  307 

not-distant  archipelagoes  of  Tonga  and  Samoa  are  beard- 
less ;  but  these  men  belong  to  distinct  races.  In  the  Ellice 
group  all  the  inhabitants  belong  to  the  same  race  ;  yet  on 
one  island  alone,  namely,  Nunemaya,  "  the  men  have  splen- 
did beards  ; "  while  on  the  other  islands  "  they  have,  as  a 
rule,  a  dozen  straggling  hairs  for  a  beard."  " 

Throughout  the  great  American  Continent  the  men  may 
be  said  to  be  beardless ;  but  in  almost  all  the  tribes  a  few 
short  hairs  are  apt  to  appear  on  the  face,  especially  during 
old  age.  With  the  tribes  of  North  America,  Catlin  esti- 
mates that  eighteen  out  of  twenty  men  are  completely  des- 
titute by  nature  of  a  beard  ;  but  occasionally  there  may 
be  seen  a  man,  who  has  neglected  to  pluck  out  the  hairs  at 
puberty,  with  a  soft  beard  an  inch  or  two  in  length.  The 
Guaranys  of  Paraguay  differ  from  all  the  surrounding 
tribes  in  having  a  small  beard,  and  even  some  hair  on  the 
body,  but  no  whiskers.'®  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  1). 
Forbes,  who  particularly  attended  to  this  subject,  that  the 
Aymaras  and  Quichuas  of  the  Cordillera  are  remarkably 
hairless,  yet  in  old  age  a  few  straggling  hairs  occasionally 
appear  on  the  chin.  The  men  of  these  two  tribes  have 
very  little  hair  on  the  various  parts  of  the  body  where 
hair  grows  abundantly  in  Europeans,  and  the  women  have 
none  on  the  corresponding  parts.  The  hair  on  the^head, 
however,  attains  an  extraordinary  length  in  both  sexes, 
often  reaching  almost  to  the  ground  ;  and  this  is  likewise 
the  case  with  some  of  the  North  American  tribes.  In  the 
amount  of  hair,  and  in  the  general  shape  of  the  body,  the 
sexes  of  the  American  aborigines  do  not  differ  from  each 
other  so  much  as  with  most  other  races  of  mankind.'^   This 

"  Dr.  J.  Barnard  Davis  on  Oceanic  Races,  in  '  Anthropolog.  Review,' 
April,  18Y0,  pp.  185,  191. 

'8  Catlin,  'North  American  Indians,'  3d  edit.  1842,  vol.  ii.  p.  221.  On 
the  Guaranys,  see  Azara,  '  Voyages  dans  I'Amerique  Merid.'  torn.  ii. 
1809,  p.  58  ;  also  Rengger,  'Saugethiere  von  Paraguay,'  s.  3. 

^^  Prof,  and  Mrs.  Agassiz  ('  Journey  in  Brazil,'  p.  530)  remark  that 


308  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  II. 

fact  is  analogous  witli  what  occurs  with  some  allied  mon- 
keys ;  thus  the  sexes  of  the  chimpanzee  are  not  as  different 
as  those  of  the  gorilla  or  orang."" 

In  the  previous  cha^ttcrs  we  have  seen  that  vrith  mam- 
mals, birds,  fislies,  insects,  etc.,  many  characters,  whicli 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  were  primarily  gained 
through  sexual  selection  by  one  sex  alone,  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  both  sexes.  As  this  same  form  of  transmission 
has  apparently  prevailed  to  a  large  extent  with  mankind, 
it  will  save  much  useless  repetition  if  we  consider  the 
characters  peculiar  to  the  male  sex  together  with  certain 
other  characters  common  to  both  sexes. 

Law  of  Battle. — With  barbarous  nations,  for  instance 
with  the  Australians,  the  women  are  the  constant  cause  of 
war  both  between  the  individuals  of  the  same  tribe  and 
between  distinct  tribes.  So  no  doubt  it  was  in  ancient 
times ;  "  nam  fuit  ante  Helenam  mulier  teterrima  belli 
causa."  With  the  North  American  Indians,  the  contest 
is  reduced  to  a  system.  That  excellent  observer,  Hearne,"' 
^vys :  "  It  has  ever  been  the  custom  among  these  people 
for  the  men  to  wrestle  for  any  woman  to  whom  they  are 
attached ;  and,  of  course,  the  strongest  party  always  car- 
ries off  the  prize.  A  weak  man,  imless  he  be  a  good  hunt- 
er, and  well-beloved,  is  seldom  permitted  to  keep  a  wife 
that  a  stronger  man  thinks  worth  his  notice.  This  custom 
prevails  throughout  all  the  tribes,  and  causes  a  great  spirit 
of  emulation  among  their  youth,  who  are  upon  all  oc- 

the  sexes  of  the  American  Indians  differ  less  than  those  of  the  negroes 
and  of  the  higher  races.     See  also  Rcngger,  ibid.  p.  3,  on  the  Guaranys. 

'"  Riitimeyer,  '  Die  Grenzen  der  Thierwelt ;  eiiie  Betrachtung  zu  Dar- 
win's Lehre,'  1868,  s.  54. 

*'  'A  Journey  from  Prince  of  Wales  Fort,'  8vo  edit.  Diiblin,  ITOe, 
p.  104.     Sir  J.  Lubbock  ('Origin  of  Civilization,'  1870,  p.  09)  gives  other  , 
and  similar  cases  in  North  America.     For  the  Guanas  of  South  America 
Bee  Azara,  '  Voyages,'  etc.,  tom.  ii.  p.  94. 


Chap.  XIX.]  LAW   OF  BATTLE.  309 

casions,  from  their  childhood,  trying  their  strength  and 
skill  in  wrestling."  With  the  Guanas  of  South  America, 
Azara  states  that  the  men  rarely  marry  till  twenty  or  more 
years  old,  as  before  that  age  they  cannot  conquer  their  ri- 
vals. 

Other  similar  facts  could  be  given  ;  but  even  if  we  had 
no  evidence  on  this  head,  we  might  feel  almost  sure,  from 
the  analogy  of  the  higher  Quadrumana,^^  that  the  law  of 
battle  had  prevailed  with  man  during  the  early  stages  of 
his  development.  The  occasional  appearance  at  the  pres- 
ent day  of  canine  teeth  which  project  above  the  others, 
with  traces  of  a  diastema  or  open  space  for  the  reception 
of  the  opposite  canines,  is  in  all  probability  a  case  of  re- 
version to  a  former  state,  when  the  progenitors  of  man 
were  provided  with  these  weapons,  like  so  many  existing 
male  Quadrumana.  It  was  remarked  in  a  former  chapter 
that  as  man  gradually  became  erect,  and  continually  used 
his  hands  and  arms  for  fighting  with  sticks  and  stones,  as 
well  as  for  the  other  purposes  of  life,  he  would  have  used 
his  jaws  and  teeth  less  and  less.  The  jaws,  together  with 
their  muscles,  would  then  have  become  reduced  through 
disuse,  as  would  the  teeth,  through  the  not  well  understood 
principles  of  correlation  and  the  economy  of  growth ;  for 
we  everywhere  see  that  parts  which  are  no  longer  of  ser- 
vice are  reduced  in  size.  By  such  steps  the  original  in- 
equality between  the  jaws  and  teeth  in  the  two  sexes  of 
mankind  would  ultimately  have  been  quite  obliterated.  The 
case  is  almost  parallel  with  that  of  many  male  Ruminants, 
in  which  the  canine  teeth  have  been  reduced  to  mere  rudi- 
ments, or  have  disappeared,  apparently  in  consequence  of 
the  development  of  horns.  As  the  prodigious  difierence 
between  the  skulls  of  the  two  sexes  in  the  Gorilla  and 

^^  On  the  fighting  of  the  male  gorilla,  see  Dr.  Savage,  in  '  Boston 
Journal  of  Nat.  His.'  vol.  v.  184*7,  p.  423.  On  Presbyiis  entellus^  see 
the  '  Indian  Field,'  1869,  p.  146. 


310  SEXUAL  SELECTION :  MAN.  [Part  IL 

Orang  stands  in  close  relation  with  the  development  of 
the  immense  canine  teeth  in  the  males,  we  may  infer  that 
the  reduction  of  the  jaws  and  teeth  in  the  early  male  pro- 
genitors of  man  led  to  a  most  striking  and  favorable 
change  in  his  appearance. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  greater  size  and 
strength  of  man,  in  comparison  with  woman,  together 
with  his  broader  shoulders,  more  developed  muscles,  rug- 
ged outline  of  body,  his  greater  courage  and  pugnacity, 
are  all  due  in  chief  part  to  inheritance  from  some  early 
male  progenitor,  who,  like  the  existing  anthropoid  apes, 
was  thus  characterized.  These  characters  will,  however 
liave  been  preserved  or  even  augmented  during  the  long 
ages  while  man  was  still  in  a  barbarous  condition,  by  the 
strongest  and  boldest  men  having  succeeded  best  in  the 
general  struggle  for  life,  as  well  as  in  securing  wives,  and 
thus  having  left  a  large  number  of  offspring.  It  is  not 
probable  that  the  greater  strength  of  man  was  primarily 
acquired  through  the  inherited  effects  of  his  liaving  worked 
harder  than  woman  for  his  own  subsistence  and  that  of 
his  family ;  for  the  women  in  all  barbarous  nations  are 
compelled  to  work  at  least  as  hard  as  the  men.  With 
civilized  people  the  arbitrament  of  battle  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  women  has  long  ceased ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  men,  as  a  general  rule,  have  to  work  harder  than  the 
women  for  their  mutual  subsistence  ;  and  thus  their  greater 
strength  will  have  been  kept  up. 

Difference  in  the  Mental  Poioers  of  the  two  Sexes. — 
With  respect  to  differences  of  this  nature  between  man 
and  woman,  it  is  probable  that  sexual  selection  has  played 
a  very  important  part.  I  am  aware  that  some  writers 
doubt  whether  there  is  any  inherent  difference ;  but  this 
is  at  least  probable  from  the  analogy  of  the  lower  animals 
which  present  other  secondary  sexual  characters.     No  one 


Chap.  XIX.]     MENTAL  POWERS  OF  MAN  AND  WOMAN.        311 

will  dispute  that  the  bull  differs  in  disposition  from  the 
cow,  the  wild-boar  from  the  sow,  the  stallion  from  the 
mare,  and,  as  is  well  known  to  the  keepers  of  menageries, 
the  males  of  the  larger  apes  from  the  females.  "Woman 
seems  to  differ  from  man  in  mental  disposition,  chiefly  in 
her  greater  tenderness  and  less  selfishness ;  and  this  holds 
good  even  with  savages,  as  shown  by  a  well-known  pas- 
sage in  Mungo  Park's  Travels,  and  by  statements  made 
by  many  other  travellers.  Woman,  owing  to  her  maternal 
instincts,  displays  these  qualities  toward  her  infants  in  an 
eminent  degree ;  therefore  it  is  likely  that  she  should  often 
extend  them  toward  her  fellow-creatures.  Man  is  the  ri- 
val of  other  men ;  he  delights  in  competition,  and  this 
leads  to  ambition  which  passes  too  easily  into  selfishness. 
These  latter  qualities  seem  to  be  his  natural  and  unfortu- 
nate birthright.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  with  woman 
the  powers  of  intuition,  of  rapid  perception,  and  perhaps 
of  imitation,  are  more  strongly  marked  than  in  man ;  but 
some,  at  least,  of  these  faculties  are  characteristic  of  the 
lower  races,  and  therefore  of  a  past  and  lower  state  of 
civilization. 

The  chief  distinction  in  the  intellectual  powers  of  the 
two  sexes  is  shown  by  man  attaining  to  a  higher  emi- 
nence, in  whatever  he  takes  up,  than  woman  can  attain — 
whether  requiring  deep  thought,  reason,  or  imagination, 
or  merely  the  use  of  the  senses  and  hands.  If  two  lists 
were  made  of  the  most  eminent  men  and  women  in 
poetry,  painting,  sculpture,  music — comprising  composi- 
tion and  performance,  history,  science,  and  philosophy, 
with  half  a  dozen  names  under  each  subject,  the  two  lists 
would  not  bear  comparison.  We  may  also  infer,  from 
the  law  of  the  deviation  of  averages,  so  well  illustrated 
by  Mr.  Galton,  in  his  work  on  "  Hereditary  Genius,"  tliat 
if  men  are  capable  of  decided  eminence  over  women  in 


312  SEXUAL  SELECTION :  MAN.  [Part  IL 

many  pulvjects,  the  average  standard  of  mental  power  in 
man  must  1:)0  above  that  of  woman. 

The  half-hiiman  male  progenitors  of  man,  and  men  in  a 
savage  state,  have  struggled  together  during  many  gener- 
ations for  the  possession  of  the  females.  But  mere  bodily 
strength  and  size  would  do  little  for  victory,  unless  asso- 
ciated with  courage,  perseverance,  and  determined  energy. 
With  social  animals,  the  young  males  have  to  pass  through 
many  a  contest  before  they  win  a  female,  and  the  older 
males  have  to  retain  their  females  by  renewed  battles. 
They  have,  also,  in  the  case  of  man,  to  defend  their  females 
as  well  as  their  young  from  enemies  of  all  kinds,  and  to 
hunt  for  their  joint  subsistence.  But  to  avoid  enemies, 
or  to  attack  them  with  success,  to  capture  wild  animals, 
and  to  invent  and  fashion  weapons,  requires  the  aid  of  the 
higher  mental  faculties,  namely,  observation,  reason,  in- 
vention, or  imagination.  These  various  faculties  will  thus 
have  been  continually  put  to  the  test,  and  selected  during 
manhood ;  they  will,  moreover,  have  been  strengthened 
by  use  during  this  same  period  of  life.  Consequently,  in 
accordance  with  the  principle  often  alluded  to,  we  might 
expect  that  they  would  at  least  tend  to  be  transmitted 
chiefly  to  the  male  off'spring  at  the  corresjjonding  period 
of  manhood. 

Now,  when  two  men  are  put  into  competition,  or  a 
man  with  a  woman,  who  possess  every  mental  quality  in 
the  same  perfection,  with  the  exception  that  the  one  has 
liighcr  energy,  perseverance,  and  courage,  this  one  will 
generally  become  more  eminent,  whatever  the  object  may 
be,  and  will  gain  the  victory."  He  may  be  said  to  possess 
genius — for  genius  has  been  declared  by  a  great  authority 

23  J.  Stuart  Mill  remarks  ('The  Subjection  of  Women,'  1869,  p.  122), 
"  The  thinf:;s  in  which  man  most  excels  woman  are  those  which  require 
most  plodding,  and  long  hammering  at  single  thoughts."  ^Vhat  is  this 
but  energy  and  perseverance  ? 


Chap.  XIX.]     MENTAL  POWEES  OF  MAN  AND  WOMAN.        313 

to  be  patience ;  and  patience,  in  this  sense,  means  unflinch- 
ing, undaunted  perseverance.  But  this  view  of  genius  is 
perhaps  deficient ;  for  without  the  higher  powers  of  the 
imagination  and  reason,  no  eminent  success  in  many  sub- 
jects can  be  gained.  But  these  latter  as  well  as  the  for- 
mer faculties  will  have  been  developed  in  man,  partly 
through  sexual  selection — that  is,  through  the  contest  of 
rival  males,  and  j)artly  through  natural  selection — that  is, 
from  success  in  the  general  struggle  for  life ;  and  as  in 
both  cases  the  struggle  will  have  been  during  maturity, 
the  characters  thus  gained  will  have  been  transmitted 
more  fully  to  the  male  than  to  the  female  ofisj^ring.  Thus 
man  has  ultimately  become  superior  to  woman.  It  is, 
indeed,  fortunate  that  the  law  of  the  equal  transmission 
of  characters  to  both  sexes  has  commonly  prevailed 
throughout  the  whole  class  of  mammals  ;  otherwise  it  is 
probable  that  man  would  have  become  as  superior  in 
mental  endowment  to  woman,  as  the  peacock  is  in  orna- 
mental plumage  to  the  peahen. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  tendency  in  charac- 
ters acquired  at  a  late  period  of  life  by  either  sex,  to  be 
transmitted  to  the  same  sex  at  the  same  age,  and  of  char- 
acters acquired  at  an  early  age  to  be  transmitted  to  both 
sexes,  are  rules  which,  though  general,  do  not  always  hold 
good.  If  they  always  held  good,  we  might  conclude  (but 
I  am  here  wandering  beyond  my  proper  bounds)  that  the 
inherited  eflects  of  the  early  education  of  boys  and  girls 
would  be  transmitted  equally  to  both  sexes ;  so  that  the 
present  inequality  between  the  sexes  in  mental  power 
coiild  not  be  efiaced  by  a  similar  course  of  early  training ; 
nor  can  it  have  been  caused  by  their  dissimilar  early 
training.  In  order  that  woman  should  reach  the  same 
standard  as  man,  she  ought,  when  nearly  adult,  to  be 
trained  to  energy  and  perseverance,  and  to  have  her  rea- 
son and  imagination  exercised  to  the  highest  point ;  and 
33 


314  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAX.  [Paut  IL 

tlien  she  would  proLiibly  transmit  tliose  qualities  chiefly 
to  her  adult  daughters.  The  whole  body  of  women,  how- 
ever, could  not  be  thus  raised,  unless  during  many  genera- 
tions the  women  who  excelled  in  the  above  robust  virtues 
were  married,  and  produced  oftspring  in  larger  numbers 
than  other  women.  As  before  remarked  with  respect  to 
bodily  strength,  although  men  do  not  now  fight  for  the 
sake  of  obtaining  wives,  and  this  form  of  selection  has 
passed  away,  yet  they  generally  have  to  undergo,  dui-hig 
manhood,  a  severe  struggle  in  order  to  maintain  them- 
selves and  their  families  ;  and  this  will  tend  to  keep  up  or 
even  increase  their  mental  powers,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  present  inequality  between  the  sexes.'* 

Voice  and  Musical  Poicers. — In  some  species  of  Quad- 
rumana  there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  adult  sexes, 
in  the  power  of  the  voice  and  in  the  development  of  the 
vocal  organs ;  and  man  appears  to  have  inherited  this  dif- 
ference from  his  early  progenitors.  His  vocal  cords  are 
about  one-third  longer  than  in  woman,  or  than  in  boys ; 
and  emasculation  produces  the  same  effect  on  him  as  on 
the  lower  animals,  for  it  "  arrests  that  prominent  growth 
of  the  thyroid,  etc.,  which  accompanies  the  elongation  of 
the  cords.""  "With  respect  to  the  cause  of  this  difference 
between  the  sexes,  I  have  nothing  to  add  to  the  remarks 
made  in  the  last  chapter  on  the  probable  effects  of  the 
long-continued  use  of  the  vocal  organs  by  the  male  under 
the  excitement  of  love,  rage,  and  jealousy.      According 

'*  An  observation  by  Vogt  bears  on  this  subject :  he  says,  it  is  a  "  re- 
markable circumstance,  that  the  difference  between  the  sexes,  as  regards 
the  cranial  cavity,  increases  with  the  development  of  the  race,  so  that  the 
male  European  excels  much  more  the  female,  than  the  negro  the  negress. 
Welcker  confirms  this  statement  of  Iluschkc  from  his  measurements  of 
negro  and  German  skuUs."  But  Vogt  admits  ('  Lectures  on  Man,"  Eng. 
translat.  186-4,  p.  81)  that  more  observations  are  requisite  on  this  point, 

''  Owen,  '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii.  p.  t>03. 


Chap.  XIX.]  MUSICAL  TOWERS.  315 

to  Sir  Duncan  Gibb,'"  the  voice  differs  in  the  different 
races  of  mankind ;  and  with  the  natives  of  Tartary, 
China,  etc.,  the  voice  of  the  male  is  said  not  to  differ  so 
much  from  that  of  the  female,  as  in  most  other  races. 

The  capacity  and  love  for  singing  or  music,  though 
not  a  sexual  character  in  man,  must  not  here  be  passed 
over.  Although  the  sounds  emitted  by  animals  of  all 
kinds  serve  many  purposes,  a  strong  case  can  be  made 
out,  that  the  vocal  organs  were  primarily  used  and  per- 
fected in  relation  to  the  propagation  of  the  species.  In- 
sects and  some  few  spiders  are  the  lowest  animals  Avhich 
voluntarily  produce  any  sound;  and  this  is  generally 
effected  by  the  aid  of  beautifully-constructed  stridulating 
organs,  which  are  often  confined  to  the  males  alone.  The 
sounds  thus  produced  consist,  I  believe  in  all  cases,  of  the 
same  note,  repeated  rhythmically ;  '^  and  this  is  sometimes 
pleasing  even  to  the  ears  of  man.  Their  chief,  and  in 
some  cases  exclusive  use  appears  to  be  either  to  call  or  to 
charm  the  opposite  sex. 

The  sounds  produced  by  fishes  are  said  in  some  cases 
to  be  made  only  by  the  males  during  the  breeding-season. 
All  the  air-breathing  Vertebrata  necessarily  possess  an 
apparatus  for  inhaling  and  expelling  air,  with  a  pipe  capa- 
ble of  being  closed  at  one  end.  Hence  when  the  primeval 
members  of  this  class  were  strongly  excited  and  their 
muscles  violently  contracted,  purposeless  sounds  would 
almost  certainly  have  been  produced ;  and  these,  if  they 
proved  in  any  way  serviceable,  might  readily  have  been 
modified  or  intensified  by  the  preservation  of  properly- 
adapted  variations.  The  Amphibians  are  the  lowest  Ver- 
tebrates which  breathe  air ;  and  many  of  these  animals, 
namely,  frogs  and  toads,  possess  vocal  organs,  which  are 

26  'Journal  of  the  Anthropolog.  Soc'  April,  1869,  pp.  Ivii.,  Ixvi. 
^^  Dr.  Scudder,  "  Notes  on  Stridulation,"  in  '  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  of 
Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  xi.  April,  1868. 


316  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

incessantly  used  during  the  breeding-season,  and  which 
are  often  more  highly  developed  in  the  male  than  in  the 
female.  The  male  alone  of  the  tortoise  utters  a  noise,  and 
this  only  during  the  season  of  love.  Male  alligators  roar 
or  bellow  during  the  same  season.  Every  one  knows  how 
largely  birds  use  their  vocal  organs  as  a  means  of  court- 
ship ;  and  some  species  likewise  perform  what  may  be 
called  instrumental  music. 

In  the  class  of  Mammals,  with  which  we  are  here  more 
particularly  concerned,  the  males  of  almost  all  the  species 
use  their  voices  during  the  breeding-season  much  more 
than  at  any  other  time ;  and  some  are  absolutely  mute 
excepting  at  this  season.  Both  sexes  of  other  species,  or 
the  females  alone,  use  their  voices  as  a  love-call.  Con- 
sidering these  facts,  and  that  the  vocal  organs  of  some 
quadrupeds  are  much  more  largely  developed  in  the  male 
than  in  the  female,  either  permanently  or  temporarily 
during  the  breeding  season  ;  and  considering  that  in  most 
of  the  lower  classes  the  sounds  produced  by  the  males, 
serve  not  only  to  call  but  to  excite  or  allure  the  female,  it 
is  a  surprising  fact  that  we  have  not  as  yet  any  good  evi- 
dence that  these  organs  are  used  by  male  mammals  to 
charm  the  females.  The  American  Mycetes  caraya  per- 
haps forms  an  exception,  as  does  more  probably  one  of 
those  apes  which  come  nearer  to  man,  namely,  the  Ilylo- 
hates  agilis.  This  gibbon  has  an  extremely  loud  but  mu- 
sical voice.  Mr.  Waterhouse  states,"  "  It  appeared  to  me 
that  in  ascending  and  descending  the  scale,  the  intervals 
were  always  exactly  half-tones ;  and  I  am  sure  that  the 
highest  note  was  the  exact  octave  to  the  lowest.  The 
quality  of  the  notes  is  very  musical ;  and  I  do  not  doubt 
that  a  good  violinist  would  be  able  to  give  a  correct  idea 

'*  Given  in  W.  C.  L.  Martin's  '  General  Introduct.  to  Nat.  Hist,  of 
Mamm.  Animals,'  1841,  p.  432  ;  Owen, '  Anatomy  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  iii. 
p.  600. 


Chap.  XIX.]  MUSICAL  POWERS.  .  317 

of  the  gibbon's  composition,  excepting  as  regards  its 
loudness."  Mr.  Waterhouse  then  gives  the  notes.  Prof. 
Owen,  who  is  likewise  a  musician,  confirms  the  foregoing 
statement,  and  remarks  that  this  gibbon  "  alone  of  brute 
mammals  may  be  said  to  sing."  It  appears  to  be  much 
excited  after  its  performance.  Unfortunately,  its  habits 
have  never  been  closely  observed  in  a  state  of  nature  ;  but 
from  the  analogy  of  almost  all  other  animals,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  it  utters  its  musical  notes  especially  during 
the  season  of  courtship. 

The  perception,  if  not  the  enjoyment,  of  musical  ca- 
dences and  of  rhythm  is  probably  common  to  all  animals, 
and  no  doubt  depends  on  the  common  physiological  nature 
of  their  nervous  systems.  Even  Crustaceans,  which  are 
not  capable  of  producing  any  voluntary  sound,  possess 
certain  auditory  hairs,  which  have  been  seen  to  vibrate 
when  the  proper  musical  notes  are  struck.^'  It  is  well 
known  that  some  dogs  howl  when  hearing  particular  tones. 
Seals  apparently  appreciate  music,  and  their  fondness  for 
it  "was  well  known  to  the  ancients,  and  is  often  taken 
advantage  of  by  the  hunters  at  the  present  day." '"  With 
all  those  animals,  namely  insects,  amphibians,  and  birds, 
the  males  of  which  during  the  season  of  courtship  inces- 
santly produce  musical  notes  or  mere  rhythmical  sounds, 
we  must  believe  that  the  females  are  able  to  appreciate 
them,  and  are  thus  excited  or  charmed ;  otherwise  the 
incessant  efforts  of  the  males  and  the  complex  structures 
often  possessed  exclusively  by  them  would  be  useless. 

With  man  song  is  generally  admitted  to  be  the  basis 
or  origin  of  instrumental  music.  As  neither  the  enjoy- 
ment nor  the  capacity  of  producing  musical  notes  are 
faculties  of  the  least  direct  use  to  man  in  reference  to  his 
ordinary  habits  of  life,  they  must  be  ranked  among  the 

^^  Helmholtz,  '  Theorie  Phys.  de  la  Musique,'  1868,  p.  187. 
»"  Mr.  R.  Brown,  in  '  Proc.  Zool.  Soc'  1868,  p.  410, 


318  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAN.  [Part  IL 

most  mysterious  with  wliicli  he  is  endowed.  Tliey  are 
present,  thougli  in  a  very  rude  and  as  it  appears  almost 
hvtent  condition,  in  men  of  all  races,  even  the  most  savage ; 
but  80  different  is  the  taste  of  the  diiferent  races,  that  our 
music  gives  not  tlie  least  pleasure  to  savages,  and  their 
music  is  to  us  hideous  and  unmeaning.  Dr.  Seenian,  in 
some  interesting  remarks  on  this  subject,"  "  doubts 
whether  even  among  the  nations  of  Western  Europe,  inti- 
mately connected  as  they  are  by  close  and  frequent  inter- 
course, the  music  of  the  one  is  interpreted  in  the  same  sense 
by  the  others.  By  travelling  eastward  we  find  that  there 
is  certainly  a  diiferent  language  of  music.  Songs  of  joy 
and  dance-accompaniments  are  no  longer,  as  with  us,  in 
the  major  keys,  but  always  in  the  minor."  Whether  or 
not  the  half-human  progenitors  of  man  possessed,  like  the 
before-mentioned  gibbon,  the  capacity  of  producing,  and 
no  doubt  of  appreciating,  musical  notes,  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  man  possessed  these  faculties  at  a 
very  remote  period,  for  singing  and  music  are  extremely 
ancient  arts.  Poetry,  which  may  be  considered  as  the 
offspring  of  song,  is  likewise  so  ancient  that  many  persons 
have  felt  astonishment  that  it  should  have  arisen  during 
the  earliest  ages  of  which  we  have  any  record. 

The  musical  facidties,  which  are  not  wholly  deficient 
in  any  race,  are  capable  of  prompt  and  high  development, 
as  we  see  with  Hottentots  and  Negroes,  who  have  readily 
become  excellent  musicians,  although  they  do  not  practise 
in  their  native  countries  any  thing  that  we  should  esteem 
as  music.  But  there  is  nothing  anomalous  in  this  circum- 
stance :  some  species  of  birds  which  never  naturally  sing, 
can  without  much  difficulty  be  taught  to  perform  ;   thus 

2'  '  Journal  of  Anthropolog.  Soc'  Oct.  ISYO,  p.  civ.  See  also  the  sev- 
eral later  chapters  in  Sir  John  Lubbock's  '  Prehistoric  Times,'  second 
edition,  1869,  which  contains  an  admirable  account  of  the  habits  of  sav- 
ages. 


Chap,  XIX.]  MUSICAL   POWERS.  319 

the  house-sparrow  has  learned  the  song  of  a  linnet.  As 
these  two  species  are  closely  allied,  and  belong  to  the 
order  of  Insessores,  which  includes  nearly  all  the  singing- 
birds  in  the  world,  it  is  quite  possible  or  probable  that  a 
progenitor  of  the  sparrow  may  have  been  a  songster.  It 
is  a  much  more  remarkable  fact  that  parrots,  which  belong 
to  a  group  distinct  from  the  Insessores,  and  have  differ- 
ently-constructed vocal  organs,  can  be  taught  not  only  to 
speak,  but  to  pipe  or  whistle  tunes  invented  by  man,  so 
that  they  must  have  some  musical  capacity.  Nevertheless 
it  would  be  extremely  rash  to  assume  that  parrots  are 
descended  from  some  ancient  progenitor  which  was  a 
songster.  Many  analogous  cases  could  be  advanced  of 
organs  and  instincts  oi'iginally  adapted  for  one  purpose, 
having  been  utilized  for  some  quite  distinct  purpose.^" 
Hence  the  capacity  for  high  musical  development,  which 
the  savage  races  of  man  possess,  may  be  due  either  to  our 
semi-human  progenitors  having  practised  some  rude  form 
of  music,  or  simply  to  their  liaving  acquired  for  some  dis- 
tinct purposes  the  proper  vocal  organs.  But  in  this  latter 
case  we  must  assume  that  they  already  possessed,  as  in 
the  above  instance  of  the  parrots,  and  as  seems  to  occur 
with  many  animals,  some  sense  of  melody. 

Music  affects  every  emotion,  but  does  not  by  itself  ex- 
cite in  us  the  more  terrible  emotions  of  horror,  rage,  etc. 
It  awakens  tlie  gentler  feelings  of  tenderness  and  love, 

22  Since  this  chapter  has  been  printed  I  have  seen  a  valuable  article 
by  Mr.  Chauncey  Wright  ('  North  Amer.  Review,'  Oct.  1870,  p.  293), 
who,  in  discussing  the  above  subject,  remarks :  "  There  are  many  conse- 
quences of  the  ultimate  laws  or  uniformities  of  Nature  through  which 
the  acquisition  of  one  useful  power  will  bring  with  it  many  resulting  ad- 
vantages as  well  as  limiting  disadvantages,  actual  or  possible,  which  the 
principle  of  utility  may  not  have  comprehended  in  its  action."  This 
principle  has  an  important  bearing,  as  I  have  attempted  to  show  in  the 
second  chapter  of  this  work,  on  the  acquisition  by  man  of  some  of  his 
mental  characteristics. 


320  SEXUAL   SELECTIOX :   MAN.  [Paut  II. 

■\virKli  readily  pass  into  devotion.  It  likewise  stirs  up  in 
us  the  sensation  of  triumph  and  the  glorious  ardor  for 
war.  Those  powerful  and  mingled  feelings  may  well  give 
rise  to  the  si-nse  of  sublimity.  We  can  concentrate,  as 
])r.  Seeniaiin  observes,  greater  intensity  of  feeling  in  a 
single  musical  note  than  in  pages  of  writing.  Nearly 
the  same  emotions,  but  much  weaker  and  less  complex, 
are  probably  felt  by  birds  when  the  male  pours  forth  his 
full  volume  of  song,  in  rivalry  with  other  males,  for  the 
sake  of  captivating  the  female.  Love  is  still  the  com- 
monest theme  of  our  own  songs.  As  Herbert  Spencer 
remarks,  music  "  arouses  dormant  sentiments  of  which  we 
had  not  conceived  the  possibility,  and  do  not  know  the 
meaning  ;  or,  as  Richter  says,  tell  us  of  things  we  have 
not  seen  and  shall  not  see."  "  Conversely,  when  vivid 
emotions  are  felt  and  expressed  by  the  orator  or  even  in 
common  speech,  musical  cadences  and  rhythm  are  instinc- 
tively used.  Monkeys  also  express  strong  feelings  in  dif- 
ferent tones — anger  and  impatience  by  low — fear  and 
pain  by  high  notes."  The  sensations  and  ideas  excited  in 
us  by  music,  or  by  the  cadences  of  impassioned  oratory, 

*'  See  the  very  interesting  discussion  on  the  Origin  and  Function  of 
Music,  by  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  in  his  collected  'Essays,'  1858,  p  359. 
Mr.  Spencer  comes  to  an  exactly  opposite  conclusion  to  that  at  which  I 
have  arrived.  He  concludes  that  the  cadences  used  in  emotional  speech 
afford  the  foundation  from  which  music  has  been  developed ;  while  I 
conclude  that  musical  notes  and  rhythm  were  first  acquired  by  the  male 
or  female  progenitors  of  mankind  for  the  sake  of  charming  the  opposite 
sex.  Thus  musical  tones  became  firmly  associated  with  some  of  the 
strongest  passions  an  animal  is  capable  of  feeling,  and  are  consequently 
used  instinctively,  or  through  association,  when  strong  emotions  are  ex- 
pressed in  speech.  Mr.  Spencer  does  not  offer  any  satisfactory  explana- 
tion, nor  can  I,  why  high  or  deep  notes  should  be  exi)ressivc,  both  with 
man  and  the  lower  animals,  of  certain  emotions.  Mr.  Spencer  gives  also 
an  interesting  discussion  on  the  relations  between  poetry,  recitative,  and 
8ong. 

"  Rcngger,  '  Siiugethiere  von  Paraguay,'  s.  49. 


Chap.  XIX.]  MUSICAL  POWERS.  321 

appear  from  their  vagueness,  yet  depth,  like  mental  re- 
versions to  the  emotions  and  thoughts  of  a  long-past  age. 
All  these  facts  with  respect  to  music  become  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  intelligible  if  we  may  assume  that  musical 
tones  and  rhythm  were  used  by  the  half-human  progeni- 
tors of  man,  during  the  season  of  courtship,  when  animals 
of  all  kinds  are  excited  by  the  strongest  passions.  In 
this  case,  from  the  deeply-laid  principle  of  inherited  asso- 
ciations, musical  tones  would  be  likely  to  excite  in  us,  in 
a  vague  and  indefinite  manner,  the  strong  emotions  of  a 
long-past  age.  Bearing  in  mind  that  the  males  of  some 
quadrumanous  animals  have  their  vocal  organs  much 
more  developed  than  in  the  females,  and  that  one  anthro- 
pomorphous species  pours  forth  a  whole  octave  of  musical 
notes  and  may  be  said  to  sing,  the  suspicion  does  not  ap- 
pear improbable  that  the  progenitors  of  man,  either  the 
males  or  females,  or  both  sexes,  before  they  had  acquired 
the  power  of  expressing  their  mutual  love  in  articulate 
language,  endeavored  to  charm  each  other  with  musical 
notes  and  rhythm.  So  little  is  known  about  the  use  of 
the  voice  by  the  Quadrumana  during  the  season  of  love, 
that  we  have  hardly  any  means  of  judging  whether  the 
habit  of  singing  was  first  acquired  by  the  male  or  female 
progenitors  of  mankind.  Women  are  generally  thought 
to  possess  sweeter  voices  than  men,  and  as  far  as  this 
serves  as  any  guide  we  may  infer  that  they  first  acquired 
musical  powers  in  order  to  attract  the  other  sex.'^  But 
if  so,  this  must  have  occurred  long  ago,  before  the  pro- 
genitors of  man  had  become  sufliciently  human  to  treat 
and  value  their  women  merely  as  useful  slaves.  The  im-. 
passioned  orator,  bard,  or  musician,  when  with  his  varied 
tones  and  cadences  he  excites  the  strongest  emotions  in 
his  hearers,  little  suspects  that  he  uses  the  same  means  by 

*^  See  an  interesting  discussion  on  this  subject  by  Hackel,  '  Generelle 
Morph.'  B.  ii.  1866,  s.  246. 


323  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAN.  [Part  IL 

which,  at  an  extremely  remote  period,  Iiis  half-human  an- 
cestors aroused  each  other's  ardent  passions,  during  their 
mutual  courtship  and  rivalry. 

On  the  Influence  of  Beauty  in  determining  the  Mar- 
riages of  Mankind. — In  civilized  life  man  is  largely,  but 
by  no  means  exclusively,  influenced  in  the  choice  of  his 
wife  by  external  appearance ;  but  we  are  chiefly  con- 
cerned witli  primeval  times,  and  our  only  means  of  form- 
ing a  judgment  on  this  subject  is  to  study  the  habits  of 
existing  semi-civilized  and  savage  nations.  If  it  can  be 
shown  that  the  men  of  difierent  races  prefer  women  hav- 
ing certain  characteristics,  or  conversely  that  the  women 
prefer  certain  men,  we  have  then  to  inquire  whether  such 
choice,  continued  during  many  generations,  would  pro- 
duce any  sensible  cfiect  on  the  race,  either  on  one  sex  on 
both  sexes;  this  latter  circumstance  dejjending  on  the 
form  of  inheritance  which  prevails. 

It  will  be  well  first  to  show  in  some  detail  that  sav- 
ages pay  the  greatest  attention  to  their  personal  appear- 
ance." That  they  have  a  passion  for  ornament  is  notori- 
ous ;  and  an  English  philosopher  goes  so  far  as  to  main- 
tain that  clothes  were  first  made  for  ornament  and  not  for 
warmth.  As  Prof.  Waitz  remarks,  "however  poor  and 
miserable  man  is,  he  finds  a  pleasure  in  adorning  himself." 

2*  A  full  and  excellent  account  of  the  manner  in  which  savages  in  all 
parts  of  the  world  ornament  themselves  is  given  by  the  Italian  traveller, 
Prof.  Mantega/.za,  '  Rio  de  la  Plata,  Viaggi  e  Studi,'  1867,  pp.  5^5-545 ; 
all  the  following  statements,  when  other  references  are  not  given,  are 
taken  from  this  work.  Sec,  also,  Waitz,  'Introduct.  to  Anthropolog.' 
Eiig.  transl.  vol.  i.  1863,  p.  275,  et  passim.  Lawrence  also  gives  very 
full  details  in  his  '  Lectures  on  Physiology,'  1822.  Since  this  chapter 
was  written,  Sir  J.  Lubbock  has  pubhshed  his  'Origin  of  CrviUzafion,' 
1870,  in  which  there  is  an  interesting  chapter  on  the  present  subject, 
and  from  which  (pp.  42,  48)  I  have  taken  some  facts  about  savages  dye- 
ing their  teeth  and  hair,  and  piercing  their  teeth. 


Chap.  XIX.]  LOVE   OF   ORNAMENTS.  323 

The  extravagance  of  the  naked  Indians  of  South  America 
in  decorating  themselves  is  shown  "  by  a  man  of  large 
stature  gaining  with  difficulty  enough  by  the  labor  of  a 
fortnight  to  procure  in  exchange  the  chica  necessary  to 
paint  himself  red,"  "  The  ancient  barbarians  of  Europe 
during  the  Reindeer  period  brought  to  their  caves  any 
brilliant  or  singular  objects  which  they  happened  to  find. 
Savages  at  the  present  day  everywhere  deck  themselves 
with  plumes,  necklaces,  armlets,  ear-rings,  etc.  They 
paint  themselves  in  the  most  diversified  manner.  "  If 
painted  nations,"  as  Humboldt  observes,  "  had  been  ex- 
amined with  the  same  attention  as  clothed  nations,  it 
would  have  been  perceived  that  the  most  fertile  imagina- 
tion and  the  most  mutable  caprice  have  created  the  fash- 
ions of  painting,  as  well  as  those  of  garments." 

In  one  part  of  Africa  the  eyelids  are  colored  black  ; 
in  another  the  nails  are  colored  yellow  or  purple.  In 
many  places  the  hair  is  dyed  of  various  tints.  In  diiferent 
countries  the  teeth  are  stained  black,  red,  blue,  etc.,  and  in 
the  Malay  archipelago  it  is  thought  shameful  to  have 
white  teeth  like  those  of  a  dog.  Not  one  great  country 
can  be  named,  from  the  Polar  regions  in  the  north  to  New 
Zealand  in  the  south,  in  which  the  aborigines  do  not  tattoo 
themselves.  This  practice  was  followed  by  the  Jews  of 
old  and  by  the  ancient  Britons.  In  Africa  some  of  the 
natives  tattoo  themselves,  but  it  is  much  more  common  to 
raise  protuberances  by  rubbing  salt  into  incisions  made  in 
various  parts  of  the  body ;  and  these  are  considered  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Kordofan  and  Darfur  "  to  be  great  personal 
attractions."  In  the  Arab  countries  no  beauty  can  be 
perfect  until  the  cheeks  "  or  temples  have  been  gashed."  ^* 

^^  Humboldt,  'Personal  Narrative,'  Eng.  translat.  vol.  iv.  p.  515;  on 
the  imagination  shown  in  painting  the  body,  p.  522 ;  on  modifying  the 
form  of  the  calf  of  the  leg,  p.  466. 

3»'The  Nile  Tributaries,'  1867;  'The  Albert  N'yanza,'  1866,  voli. 
p.  218. 


324  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAN.  [Part  IL 

111  South  America,  as  lIiuul)oltlt  remarks,  "  a  mother 
would  be  accused  of  culpable  indiflference  toward  lier  diil- 
dren,  if  she  did  not  employ  artificial  means  to  shape  the 
calf  of  the  leg  after  the  fashion  of  the  country."  In  the 
Old  and  New  World  the  shape  of  the  skull  was  formerly 
modified  during  infancy  in  the  most  extraordinary  man- 
ner, as  is  still  the  case  in  many  places,  and  such  deformi- 
ties are  considered  ornamental.  For  instance,  the  savages 
of  Colombia  '^  deem  a  much  flattened  head  an  "  essential 
point  of  beauty." 

The  hair  is  treated  with  especial  care  in  various  coun- 
tries ;  it  is  allowed  to  grow  to  full  length,  so  as  to  reach 
the  ground,  or  is  combed  into  "  a  compact  frizzled  mop, 
which  is  the  Papuan's  })ride  and  glory."  *"  In  Northern 
Africa  "  a  man  recjuires  a  period  of  from  eight  to  ten 
years  to  perfect  his  coiffure."  With  other  nations  the 
head  is  shaved,  and  in  parts  of  South  America  and  Africa 
even  the  eyebrows  are  eradicated.  The  natives  of  the 
Upper  Nile  knock  out  the  four  front  teeth,  saying  that 
they  do  not  wish  to  resemble  brutes.  Further  south,  the 
Batokas  knock  out  the  two  upper  incisors,  which,  as  Liv- 
ingstone*' remarks,  gives  the  face  a  hideous  appearance, 
owing  to  the  growth  of  the  lower  jaw;  but  these  people 
think  the  presence  of  the  incisors  most  unsightly,  and  on 
beholding  some  Europeans,  cried  out,  "  Look  at  the  great 
teeth  !  "  The  great  chief  Sebituani  tried  in  vain  to  alter 
this  fashion.  In  various  parts  of  Africa  and  in  the  Malay 
Archipelago  the  natives  file  the  incisor  teeth  into  points 
like  those  of  a  saw,  or  pierce  them  with  holes,  into  which 
they  insert  studs. 

29  Quoted  by  Prichanl,  '  Phys.  Ilist.  of  Mankind.'  4th  edit.  vol.  L 
1851,  p.  321. 

*"  On  the  Papuans,  Wallace,  'The  Malay  Archipelago,'  vol.  ii.  p.  445. 
On  the  coiffure  of  the  Africans,  Sir  S.  Baker,  'The  Albert  N'yanza,'  vol 
.  L  p.  210. 

"  '  Travels,'  p.  533. 


Chap.  XIX.]  LOVE   OF   ORNAMENTS.  335 

As  the  face  with  iis  is  chiefly  admired  foi"  its  beauty,  so 
"with  savages  it  is  the  chief  seat  of  mutilation.  In  all 
quarters  of  the  world,  the  septum,  and  more  rarely  the 
wings  of  the  nose  are  pierced,  with  rings,  sticks,  feathers, 
and  other  ornaments,  inserted  into  the  holes.  The  ears 
are  everywhere  pierced  and  similarly  ornamented,  and 
with  the  Botocudos  and  Lenguas  of  South  America  the 
hole  is  gradually  so  much  enlarged  that  the  lower  edge 
touches  the  shoulder.  In  North  and  South  America  and 
in  Africa  either  the  upper  or  lower  lip  is  pierced ;  and 
with  the  Botocudos  the  hole  in  the  lower  lip  is  so  large 
that  a  disk  of  wood  four  inches  in  diameter  is  placed  in  it. 
Mantegazza  gives  a  curious  account  of  the  shame  felt  by  a 
South  American  native,  and  of  the  ridicule  which  he  ex- 
cited, when  he  sold  his  tembeta^-ihe  large  colored  piece 
of  wood  which  is  passed  through  the  hole.  In  Central 
Africa  tlie  women  perforate  the  lower  lip  and  wear  a  crys- 
tal, which,  from  the  movement  of  the  tongue,  has  "a 
wriggling  motion  indescribably  ludicrous  during  conver- 
sation." The  "  wife  of  the  chief  of  Latooka  told  Sir  S.  Ba- 
ker *"  that  his  wife  would  be  much  improved  if  she  would 
extract  her  four  front  teeth  from  the  lower  jaw,  and  wear 
the  long  pointed  polished  crystal  in  her  under  lip."  Far- 
ther south  with  the  Makalolo,  the  upper  lip  is  perforated, 
and  a  large  metal  and  bamboo  ring,  called  a  pelele,  is  worn 
in  the  hole.  "  This  caused  the  lip  in  one  case  to  project 
two  inches  beyond  the  tip  of  the  nose ;  and  when  the  lady 
smiled  the  contraction  of  the  muscles  elevated  it  over  the 
eyes.  '  Why  do  women  wear  these  things  ? '  the  venera- 
ble chief,  Chinsurdi,  was  asked.  Evidently  surprised  at 
such  a  stupid  question,  he  replied, '  For  beauty  !  They  are 
the  only  beautiful  things  women  have  ;  men  have  beards, 
women  have  none.     What  kind  of  a  person  would  she  be 

42  'The  Albert  N'yanza,'  1866,  vol.  i.  p.  217. 


326  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

without  the  pelele?     She  would  not  be  a  woman  at  all 
with  a  mouth  like  a  man,  but  no  board.' "  " 

Hardly  any  part  of  the  body,  which  can  be  unnaturally 
modilied,  has  escaped.  The  amount  of  sufiering  thus 
caused  must  have  been  wonderfully  great,  for  many  of  the 
operations  require  several  years  for  their  completion,  so 
that  the  idea  of  their  necessity  must  be  imperative.  The 
motives  are  various ;  the  men  paint  their  bodies  to  make 
themselves  appear  terrible  in  battle ;  certain  mutilations 
are  connected  with  religious  rites ;  or  they  mark  the  age 
of  puberty,  or  the  rank  of  the  man,  or  they  serve  to  dis- 
tinguish the  tribes.  As  with  savages  the  same  fashions 
prevail  for  long  periods,**  mutilations,  from  whatever 
cause  first  made,  soon  come  to  be  valued  as  distinctive 
marks.  But  self-adornment,  vanity,  and  the  admiration 
of  others,  seem  to  be  the  commonest  motives.  In  regard 
to  tattooing,  I  was  told  by  the  missionaries  in  New  Zea- 
land, that  when  they  tried  to  persuade  some  girls  to  give 
up  thei)ractiec.  they  answered,  "We  must  just  have  a  few 
lines  on  our  lips ;  else  when  we  grow  old  we  shall  be  so 
very  iigly."  With  the  men  of  New  Zealand,  a  most 
capable  judge  "  says,  "  To  have  fine  tattooed  faces  was  the 
great  ambition  of  the  young,  both  to  render  themselves 
attractive  to  the  ladies,  and  conspicuous  in  war."  A  star 
tattooed  on  the  forehead  and  a  spot  on  the  chin  are 
thought  by  tlie  women  in  one  part  of  Africa  to  be  irresisti- 
ble attractions.  *"  In  most,  but  not  all  parts  of  the  world, 
the  men, are  more  highly  ornamented  than  the  women, 

^^Livingstone,  'British  Association,'  1860;  report  given  in  the 
'  AthcncPum,'  July  7,  1860,  p.  29. 

**  Sir  S.  Baker  (ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  210),  speaking  of  the  natives  of  Central 
Africa,  says,  "Every  tribe  has  a  distinct  and  unchanging  f;ishion  for 
dressing  the  hair."  See  Agassiz  (' Journey  in  Brazil,'  1868,  p.  318)  on 
the  invariability  of  the  tattooing  of  the  Amazonian  Indians. 

**  Rev.  R.  Taylor,  'New  Zealand  and  its  Inhabitants,'  1855,  p.  152. 

**  Mantegazza,  '  Viaggi  e  Studi,'  p.  542. 


Chap.  XIX.]  BEAUTY.  327 

and  often  in  a  diiferent  manner ;  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
the  women  are  hardly  at  all  ornamented.  As  the  women 
are  made  by  savages  to  perform  the  greatest  share  of  the 
work,  and  as  they  are  not  allowed  to  eat  the  best  kinds 
of  food,  so  it  accords  with  the  characteristic  selfishness  of 
man  that  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  obtain,  or  to  use, 
the  finest  ornaments.  Lastly,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  as 
proved  by  the  foregoing  quotations,  that  the  same  fash- 
ions in  modifying  the  shape  of  the  head,  in  ornamenting 
the  hair,  in  painting,  tattooing,  perforating  the  nose,  lips,  or 
ears,  in  removing  or  filing  the  teeth,  etc.,  now  prevail  and 
have  long  prevailed  in  the  most  distant  quarters  of  the 
world.  It  is  extremely  improbable  that  these  practices 
which  are  followed  by  so  many  distinct  nations  are  due  to 
tradition  from  any  common  source.  They  rather  indicate 
the  close  similarity  of  the  mind  of  man,  to  whatever  race 
he  may  belong,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  almost  univer- 
sal habits  of  dancing,  masquerading,  and  making  rude 
pictures. 

Having  made  these  preliminary  remarks  on  the  admi- 
ration felt  by  savages  for  various  ornaments,  and  for  de- 
formities most  unsightly  in  our  eyes,  let  us  see  how  far  the 
men  are  attracted  by  the  appearance  of  their  women,  and 
what  are  their  ideas  of  beauty.  As  I  have  heard  it  main- 
tained that  savages  are  quite  indifferent  about  the  beauty 
of  their  women,  valuing  them  solely  as  slaves,  it  may  be 
well  to  observe  that  this  conclusion  does  not  at  all  agree 
with  the  care  which  the  women  take  in  ornamenting  them- 
selves, or  with  their  vanity.  Burchell  *'  gives  an  amusing 
account  of  a  Bushwoman,  who  used  so  much  grease,  red 
ochre,  and  shining-powder,  "  as  would  have  ruined  any 
but  a  very  rich  husband."  She  displayed  also  ".much 
vanity  and  too  evident  a  consciousness  of  her  superiority." 
^  '  Travels  in  South  Africa,'  1824,  vol.  i.  p.  414. 


338  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

Mr.  "Winwood  llcade  informs  mc  tliat  the  negroes  of  the 
West  Coast  often  discuss  the  beauty  of  their  women. 
Some  competent  observers  have  attributed  the  fearfully 
common  practice  of  infanticide  partly  to  the  desire  felt  by 
the  women  to  retain  their  good  looks,"  In  several  regions 
the  women  wear  charms  and  love-philters  to  gain  the  affec- 
tions of  the  men  ;  and  j\Ir.  Brown  enumerates  four  plants 
used  for  this  purpose  by  the  women  of  Northwestern 
America." 

Ileariie/"  who  lived  many  years  with  the  American 
Indians,  and  who  was  an  excellent  observer,  says,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  women,  "  Ask  a  northern  Indian  what  is  beauty, 
and  he  will  answer,  a  broad  flat  face,  small  eyes,  high 
cheek-bones,  three  or  four  broad  black  lines  across  each 
cheek,  a  low  forehead,  a  large  broad  chin,  a  clumsy  hook 
nose,  a  tawny  hide,  and  breasts  hanging  down  to  the  belt." 
Pallas,  who  visited  the  northern  parts  of  the  Chinese  em» 
pire,  says,  "  Those  women  are  preferred  who  have  the 
Mandschu  form;  that  is  to  say,  abroad  face,  high  cheek- 
bones, very  broad  noses,  and  enormous  ears ; "  '^  and 
Vogt  remarks  that  the  obliquity  of  the  eye,  which  is 
proper  to  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  is  exaggerated  in 
their  pictures  for  the  purpose,  as  "  it  seems,  of  exhibiting  its 
beauty,  as  contrasted  with  the  eye  of  the  red-haired  bar- 
barians." It  is  well  known,  as  Hue  repeatedly  remarks, 
that  the  Chinese  of  the  interior  think  Europeans  hideous 
with  their  white  skins  and  prominent  noses.     The  nose  is 

**  See,  for  references, '  Gcrland  iiber  das  Aussterben  der  Naturvolker,* 
1868,  s.  51,  5,*?,  55;  also  Azara,  '  Voyagjs,'  etc.,  torn.  ii.  p.  116. 

••'  On  the  vegetable  productions  used  by  the  Northwestern  Americau 
Indians,  '  Pharmaceutical  Journal,'  vol.  x. 

*»  'A  Journey  from  Prince  of  Wales  Fort,'  8vo  edit.  1796,  p.  89. 

*'  Quoted  by  Prichard,  '  Phys.  Hist,  of  Mankind,'  3d  edit.  vol.  iv. 
1844,  p.  519;  Vogt,  'Lectures  on  Man,'  Eng.  translat.  p.  129.  On  the 
opinion  of  the  Chinese  on  the  Cingalese,  E.  Tennent,  '  Ceylon,'  vol.  ii. 
1859,  p.  107. 


Chap.  XIX.]  BEAUTY.  329 

far  from  being  too  prominent,  according  to  our  ideas,  in 
the  natives  of  Ceylon ;  yet  "  the  Chinese  in  the  seventh 
century,  accustomed  to  the  flat  features  of  the  Mogul 
races,  were  surprised  at  the  prominent  noses  of  the  Cinga- 
lese ;  and  Thsang  described  them  as  having  '  the  beak  of 
a  bird,  with  the  body  of  a  man.' " 

Finlayson,  after  minutely  describing  the  people  of 
Cochin-China,  says  that  their  rounded  heads  and  faces  are 
their  chief  characteristics  ;  and  he  adds,  "  The  roundness  of 
the  whole  countenance  is  more  striking  in  the  women,  who 
ai"e  reckoned  beautiful  in  proportion  as  they  display  this 
form  of  face."  The  Siamese  have  small  noses  with  diver- 
gent nostrils,  a  wide  mouth,  rather  thick  lips,  a  remarkably 
large  face,  with  very  high  and  broad  cheek-bones.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  wonderful  that  "  beauty,  according  to  our 
notion,  is  a  stranger  to  them.  Yet  they  consider  their  own 
females  to  be  much  more  beautiful  than  those  of  Eu- 
rope." '' 

It  is  well  known  that  with  many  Hottentot  women  the 
posterior  part  of  the  body  projects  in  a  wonderful  manner ; 
they  are  steatopygous ;  and  Sir  Andrew  Smith  is  certain 
that  this  peculiarity  is  greatly  admired  by  the  men."  He 
once  saw  a  woman  who  was  considered  a  beauty,  and  she 
was  so  immensely  developed  behind,  that  when  seated  on 
level  ground  she  could  not  rise,  and  had  to  push  herself 
along  until  she  came  to  a  slope.  Some  of  the  women  in 
various  negro  tribes  are  similarly  characterized ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  Burton,  the  Somal  men  "  are  said  to  choose 
their  wives  by  ranging  them  in  a  line,  and  by  picking  her 

^^  Prichard,  as  taken  from  Crawfurd  and  Finlayson,  '  Phys.  Hist,  of 
Mankind,'  vol.  iv.  pp.  534,  535. 

53  "  Idem  illustriasimus  viator  dixit  mihi  prsecinctorium  vel  tabula 
faeminse,  quod  nobis  teterrimum  est,  quondam  permagno  aestimari  ab 
hominibus  in  hac  gente.  Nunc  res  mutata  est,  et  censet  talem  confor- 
mationem  minime  optandam  est." 


330  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAX.  [Part  IL 

out  who  projects  forthcst  a  tergo.  Nothing  can  be  more 
hateful  to  a  negro  tlian  tlie  opposite  form."  " 

Witli  respect  to  color,  the  negroes  rallied  ]\Iungo  Park 
on  the  wliitoness  of  his  skin  and  the  prominence  of  his  nose, 
both  of  which  they  considered  as  "  unsightly  and  minat- 
ural  conformations."  He  in  return  praised  the  glossy  jet 
of  their  skins  and  the  lovely  depression  of  their  noses ; 
this  they  said  was  "  honey-moxith,"  nevertheless  they  gave 
him  food.  The  African  Moors,  also,  "  knitted  their  brows 
and  seemed  to  shudder  "  at  the  whiteness  of  his  skin.  On 
the  eastern  coast,  the  negro  boys,  when  they  saw  Burton, 
cried  out,  "  Look  at  the  white  man !  does  he  not  look  like 
a  white  ape  ?  "  On  the  western  coast,  as  Mr.  Winwood 
Reade  informs  me,  the  negroes  admire  a  very  black  skin 
more  than  one  of  a  lighter  tint.  But  their  horror  of  white- 
ness may  be  partly  attributed,  according  to  this  same 
traveller,  to  the  belief  held  by  most  negroes  that  demons 
and  spirits  are  white. 

The  Banyai  of  the  more  southern  part  of  the  continent 
are  negroes,  but  "  a  great  many  of  them  are  of  a  light  coflfee- 
and-milk  color,  and,  indeed,  this  color  is  considered  hand- 
some throughout  the  whole  country  ; "  so  that  here  we 
have  a  ditFerent  standard  of  taste.  With  the  Kaftres,  who 
differ  much  from  negroes,  "  the  skin,  except  among  the 
tribes  near  Delagoa  Bay,  is  not  usually  black,  the  prevail- 
ing color  being  a  mixture  of  black  and  red,  the  most  com- 
mon shade  being  chocolate.  Dark  complexions,  as  being 
most  common,  are  naturally  held  in  the  highest  esteem. 
To  be  told  that  he  is  light-colored,  or  like  a  white  man, 
would  be  deemed  a  very  poor  compliment  by  a  Kaffre.  I 
have  heard  of  one  unfortunate  man  who  Avas  so  very  fair 
that  no  girl  would  marry  him."     One  of  the  titles  of  the 

"  'The  Anthropological  Review,'  Nov.  1864,  p.  237.  For  additional 
references,  see  Waitz,  '  lutroduct.  to  Anthropology,'  Eng.  translat.  1803, 
vol  i.  p.  105. 


CHiP.  XIX.]  BEAUTY.  331 

Zulu  king  is,  "You  who  are  black.""  Mr.  Galton,  in 
speaking  to  me  about  the  natives  of  Soiithern  Africa,  re- 
marked that  their  ideas  of  beauty  seem  very  different  fi'om 
ours ;  for  in  one  tribe  two  slim,  slight,  and  pretty  girls  were 
not  admired  by  the  natives. 

Turning  to  other  quarters  of  the  world :  in  Java,  a 
yellow,  not  a  white  girl,  is  considered,  according  to  Ma- 
dame Pfeiffer,  a  beauty.  A  man  of  Cochin-China  "  spoke 
with  contempt  of  the  wife  of  the  English  ambassador,  that 
she  had  white  teeth  like  a  dog,  and  a  rosy  color  like  that 
of  potato-flowers."  We  have  seen  that  the  Chinese  disli'ke 
our  white  skin,  and  that  the  North  Americans  admire  "  a 
tawny  hide."  In  South  America,  the  Yura-caras,  who  in- 
habit the  wooded,  damp  slopes  of  the  eastern  Cordillera, 
are  remarkably  pale-colored,  as  their  name  in  their  own 
language  expresses ;  nevertheless,  they  consider  European 
women  as  very  inferior  to  their  own.*' 

In  several  of  the  tribes  of  North  America  the  hair  on 
the  bead  grows  to  a  wonderful  length ;  and  Catlin  gives  a 
curious  proof  how  much  this  is  esteemed,  for  the  chief  of 
the  Crows  was  elected  to  this  ofiice  from  having  the  longest 
hair  of  any  man  in  the  tribe,  namely  ten  feet  and  seven 
inches.  The  Aymaras  and  Quichuas  of  South  America 
likewise  have  very  long  hair ;  and  this,  as  Mr.  D.  Forbes 
informs  me,  is  so  much  valued  for  the  sake  of  beauty,  that 
cutting  it  off  was  the  severest  punishment  which  he  could 
inflict  on  them.     In  both  halves  of  the  continent  the  na- 

65  'Mungo  Park's  Travels  in  Africa,'  4to,  1816,  pp.  53,  131.  Burton's 
statement  is  quoted  by  Schaaff  hausen,  '  Archiv  fiir  Anthropolog.'  1866, 
s.  163.  On  the  Banyai,  Livingstone,  '  Travels,'  p.  64.  On  the  Kafirs, 
the  Rev.  J.  Shooter,  '  The  Kafirs  of  Natal  and  the  Zulu  Country,'  1857, 
p.  1. 

5^  For  the  Javanese  and  Cochin-  Chinese,  see  Waitz,  '  Introduct.  to 
Anthropology,'  Eng.  translat.  vol.  i.  p.  305.  On  the  Yura-caras,  A. 
d'Orligny,  as  quoted  in  Pritchard,  '  Phys.  Hist,  of  Mankind,'  vol.  v.  3d 
edit.  p.  476. 


332  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

tives  sometimes  increase  the  apparent  length  of  their  hair 
by  weaving  into  it  fibrous  substances.  Although  the  hair 
on  the  head  is  thus  cherished,  that  on  the  face  is  considered 
by  the  North  American  Indians  "  as  very  vulgar,"  and 
every  hair  is  carefully  eradicated.  This  practice  prevails 
throughout  the  American  Continent  from  Vancouver's  Isl- 
and in  the  nortli  to  Tierra  del  Fuego  in  the  south.  When 
York  jMinster,  a  Fuegian  on  board  the  "  Beagle  "  was  taken 
back  to  his  country,  the  natives  told  him  he  ought  to  pull 
out  the  few  short  hairs  on  his  face.  They  also  threatened 
a  young  missionarj^,  who  Avas  left  for  a  time  with  them, 
to  strijj  him  naked,  and  pluck  the  hairs  from  his  face  and 
body,  yet  he  was  far  from  a  hairy  man.  This  fashion  is 
carried  to  such  an  extreme  that  the  Indians  of  Paraguay 
eradicate  their  eyebrows  and  eyelashes,  saying  that  they 
do  not  wish  to  be  like  horses." 

It  is  remarkable  that  throughout  the  world  the  races 
which  are  almost  completely  destitute  of  a  beard  dislike 
hairs  on  the  face  and  body,  and  take  pains  to  eradicate 
them.  The  Calmucks  are  beardless,  and  they  are  well 
known,  like  the  Americans,  to  pluck  out  all  straggling 
hairs;  and  so  it  is  with  the  Polynesians,  some  of  the 
Malays,  and  the  Siamese.  Mr.  Veitch  states  that  the 
Japanese  ladies  "  all  objected  to  our  whiskers,  considering 
them  very  ugly,  and  told  us  to  cut  them  oflf,  and  be  like 
Japanese  men."  The  New-Zealanders  are  beardless ;  they 
carefully  pluck  out  the  hairs  on  the  face,  and  have  a 
saying  that  "  there  is  no  woman  for  a  hairy  man.  "  " 

"  North  American  Indians,'  by  G.  Catlin,  3d.  edit.  1842,  vol.  i.  p.  49; 
vol.  ii.  p.  227.  On  the  natives  of  Vancouver  Island,  see  Sproat.  '  Scenes 
and  Studies  of  Savage  Life,'  1868,  p.  25.  On  the  Indians  of  Paraguay, 
Azara,  'Voyages,'  torn.  ii.  p.  105. 

**  On  the  Siamese,  Pritchard,  ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  533.  On  the  Japanese, 
Veitch  in  '  Gardeners'  Chronicle,'  1860,  p.  1104.  On  the  New-Zealanders, 
Mautcgazza,  '  Viaggi  e  Studi,'  1867,  p.  626.     For  the  other  nations  men- 


Chap.  XIX.]  BEAUTY.  333 

On  the  other  hand,  bearded  races  admire  and  greatly 
value  their  beards ;  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  every  part 
of  the  body,  according  to  their  laws,  had  a  recognized 
value ;  "  the  loss  of  the  beard  being  estimated  at  twenty 
shillings,  while  the  breaking  of  a  thigh  was  fixed  at  only 
twelve."  "  In  the  East,  men  swear  solemnly  by  their 
beards.  "We  have  seen  that  Chinsurdi,  the  chief  of  the 
Makalolo  in  Africa,  evidently  thought  that  beards  were  a 
great  ornament.  With  the  Fijians  in  the  Pacific  the 
beard  is  "  profuse  and  bushy,  and  is  his  greatest  pride ;  " 
wliile  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent  archipelagoes  of 
Tonga  and  Samoa  are  "beardless,  and  abhor  a  rough 
chin."  In  one  island  alone  of  the  Ellice  group  "  the  men 
are  heavily  bearded,  and  not  a  little  proud  thereof."  '"' 

We  thus  see  how  widely  the  different  races  of  man 
differ  in  their  taste  for  the  beautiful.  In  every  nation 
sufficiently  advanced  to  have  made  effigies  of  their  gods 
or  of  their  deified  rulers,  the  sculptors  no  doubt  have  en- 
deavored to  express  their  highest  ideal  of  beauty  and 
grandeur."  Under  this  point  of  view  it  is  well  to  com- 
pare in  our  mind  the  Jupiter  or  Apollo  of  the  Greeks  with 
the  Egyptian  or  Assyrian  statues ;  and  these  with  the 
hideous  bass-reliefs  on  the  ruined  buildings  of  Central 
America. 

I  have  met  with  very  few  statements  opposed  to  the 
above  conclusion.  Mr.  Winwood  Reade,  however,  who 
has  had  ample  opportunities  for  observation,  not  only 
with  the  negroes  of  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  but  with 

tioned,  see  references  in  Lawrence,  'Lectures  on  Physiology,'  etc.  1822, 
p.  272. 

"  Lubbock,  'Origin  of  Civilization,'  18Y0,  p.  321. 

*"  Dr.  Barnard  Davis  quotes  Mr.  Pritchard  and  others  for  these  facts 
in  regard  to  the  Polynesians,  in  'Anthropological  Review,'  April,  1870, 
pp.  185,  191. 

*'  Ch.  Comte  has  remarks  to  this  effect  in  his  '  Traite  de  Legislation,' 
3d.  edit.  1837,  p.  136. 


334  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAN.  [Part  IL 

those  of  tlie  interior  who  have  never  associated  with 
Europeans,  is  convinced  that  their  ideas  of  beauty  are  on 
the  whole  the  same  as  ours.  He  lias  repeatedly  found  that 
he  agreed  with  negroes  in  their  estimation  of  the  beauty 
of  the  native  girls;  and  that  their  appreciation  of  the 
beauty  of  European  women  corresponded  with  ours. 
They  admire  long  hair,  and  use  artificial  means  to  make 
it  appear  abundant;  they  admire  also  a  beard,  though 
themselves  very  scantily  provided.  Mr.  Reade  feels 
doubtful  what  kind  of  nose  is  most  ajipreciated :  a  girl 
has  been  heard  to  say,  "  I  do  not  want  to  marry  him,  he 
has  got  no  nose ; "  and  this  shows  that  a  very  flat  nose  is 
not  an  object  of  admiration.  We  should,  however,  bear 
in  mind  tliat  the  depi-essed  and  very  broad  noses  and  pro- 
jecting jaws  of  the  negroes  of  the  West  Coast  are  excep- 
tional types  with  the  inhabitants  of  Africa.  Notwith- 
standing the  foregoing  statements,  Mr.  Reade  does  not 
think  it  probable  that  negroes  would  ever  prefer  the 
"  most  beautiful  European  woman,  on  the  mere  grounds 
of  physical  admiration,  to  a  good-looking  negress."  " 

The  truth  of  the  principle,  long  ago  insisted  on  by 
Humboldt,"  that  man  admires  and  often  tries  to  exagger- 
ate whatever  characters  Nature  may  have  given  him,  is 
shown  in  many  ways.     The  practice  of  beardless   races 

*'  The  Fuegians,  as  I  have  been  informed  by  a  nussionary  who  long 
resided  with  them,  consider  European  women  as  extremely  beautiful ; 
but  from  what  we  have  seen  of  the  judgment  of  the  other  aborigines  of 
America,  I  cannot  but  think  that  this  must  be  a  mistake,  unless  indeed 
the  statement  refers  to  the  few  Fuegians  who  have  lived  for  some  time 
with  Europeans,  and  who  must  consider  us  as  superior  beings.  I  should 
add  that  a  most  experienced  observer,  Captain  Burton,  believes  that  a 
woman  whom  we  consider  beautiful  is  admired  throughout  the  world, 
'Anthropological  Review,'  March,  18C4,  p.  245. 

**  '  Personal  Narrative,'  Eiig.  translat.  vol.  iv.  p.  518,  and  elsewhere. 
Mantegazza,  in  his  '  Viaggi  e  Studi,'  1867,  strongly  insists  on  this  same 
principle. 


Chap.  XIX.]  BEAUTY.  335 

extirpating  every  trace  of  a  beard,  and  generally  all  the 
hairs  on  the  body,  offers  one  illustration.  The  skull  has 
been  greatly  modified  during  ancient  and  modern  times 
by  many  nations ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this 
has  been  practised,  especially  in  Xorth  and  South  Amer- 
ica, in  order  to  exaggerate  some  natural  and  admired  pe- 
culiarity. Many  American  Indians  are  known  to  admire 
a  head  flattened  to  such  an  extreme  degree  as  to  appear 
to  us  like  that  of  an  idiot.  The  natives  on  the  north- 
western coast  compress  the  head  into  a  pointed  cone; 
and  it  is  their  constant  practice  to  gather  the  hair  into  a 
knot  on  the  top  of  the  head,  for  the  sake,  as  Dr.  Wilson 
remarks,  "  of  increasing  the  apparent  elevation  of  the 
favorite  conoid  form."  The  inhabitants  of  Arakhan  "  ad- 
mire a  broad,  smooth  forehead,  and  in  order  to  produce  it 
they  fasten  a  plate  of  lead  on  the  heads  of  the  new-born 
children."  On  the  other  hand,  "  a  broad,  well-rounded 
occiput  is  considered  a  great  beauty  "  by  the  natives  of 
the  Fiji  islands." 

As  with  the  skull,  so  with  the  nose ;  the  ancient  Huns 
during  the  age  of  Attila  were  accustomed  to  flatten  the 
noses  of  their  infants  with  bandages,  "  for  the  sake  of  ex- 
aggerating a  natural  conformation."  With  the  Tahitians, 
to  be  called  long-nose  is  considered  as  an  insult,  and  they 
compress  the  noses  and  foreheads  of  their  children  for  the 
sake  of  beauty.  So  it  is  with  the  Malays  of  Sumatra,  the 
Hottentots,  certain  Negroes,  and  the  natives  of  Brazil." 

^  On  the  skulls  of  the  American  tribes,  see  Nott  and  Gliddon,  *  Types 
of  Mankind,'  1854,  p.  440 ;  Pritchard,  '  Phys.  Hist,  of  Mankind,'  vol.  i.  3d 
edit.  p.  321 ;  on  the  natives  of  Arakhan,  ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  537.  Wilson, 
'Physical  Ethnology,'  Smithsonian  Institution,  1863,  p.  288;  on  the 
Fijians,  p.  290.  Sir  J.  Lubbock  ('  Prehistoric  Times,'  2d  edit.  1869,  p. 
506)  gives  an  excellent  resume  on  this  subject. 

«5  On  the  Huns,  Godron,  'De  I'Espece,'  tom.  ii.  1859,  p.  300.  On  the 
Tahitians,  Waitz,  '  Anthropolog.'  Eng.  translat.  vol.  i.  p.  305.     Marsden, 


336  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

Tlie  Chinese  have  by  nature  unusually  small  feet;" 
and  it  is  well  kn<»wn  lliat  the  women  of  the  upper  elasses 
distort  their  feet  to  make  them  still  smaller.  Lastly,  Hum- 
boldt thinks  that  the  American  Indians  prefer  coloring 
their  hodies  with  red  ])aint  in  order  to  exaggerate  their 
natural  tint ;  and  until  recently  European  women  added 
to  their  naturally  bright  colors  by  rouge  and  white  cos- 
metics; but  I  doubt  whether  many  barbarous  nations 
liave  had  any  such  intention  in  painting  themselves. 

In  the  fashions  of  our  own  dress  we  see  exactly  the 
same  princijile  and  the  same  desire  to  carry  every  point 
to  an  extreme;  we  exhibit,  also,  the  same  spirit  of  emula- 
tion. But  the  fashions  of  savages  are  far  more  permanent 
than  ours ;  and  whenever  their  bodies  are  artificially  mod- 
ified this  is  necessarily  the  case.  The  Arab  women  of 
the  Ui)per  Nile  occupy  about  three  days  in  dressing  their 
hair;  they  never  imitate  other  tribes,  "  but  simply  vie 
with  each  other  in  the  superlativeness  of  their  own  style." 
Dr.  Wilson,  in  speaking  of  the  compressed  skulls  of  vari- 
ous American  races,  adds,  "  Such  usages  are  among  the 
least  eradicable,  and  long  survive  the  shock  of  revolu- 
tions that  change  dynasties  and  efi*ace  more  important 
national  peculiarities."  "  The  same  principle  comes  large- 
ly into  play  in  the  art  of  selection;  and  we  can  thus  un- 
derstand, as  I  have  elsewhere  explained,"*  the  wonderful 
development  of  all  the  races  of  animals  and  plants  which 
are  ke])t  merely  for  ornament.  Fanciers  always  wish  each 
character  to  be  somewhat  increased ;  they  do  not  admire 

quoted  by  Pritchard,  '  Phys.  Hist,  of  Mankind,'  3d  edit.  vol.  v.  p.  67. 
Lawrence,  '  Lectures  on  Physiolop;y,'  p.  337. 

'^  This  fact  was  ascertained  in  the  '  Reise  der  Novara :  Anthropolog. 
Theil,'  Dr.  Weisbach,  1807,  s.  265. 

"  '  Smithsonian  Institution,'  1863,  p.  289.  On  the  fashions  of  Arab 
women.  Sir  S.  Baker,  'The  Nile  Tributaries,'  1807,  p.  121. 

^8  '  The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  vol.  i. 
p.  214  ;  vol.  ii.  p.  240. 


Chap.  XIX.]  BEAUTY.  337 

a  medium  standard ;  they  certainly  do  not  desire  any  great 
and  abrupt  change  in  the  character  of  their  breeds ;  they 
admire  solely  what  they  are  accustomed  to  behold,  but 
they  ardently  desire  to  see  each  characteristic  feature  a 
little  more  developed. 

No  doubt  the  perceptive  powers  of  man  and  the  lower 
animals  are  so  constituted  that  brilliant  colors  and  certain 
forms,  as  well  as  harmonious  and  rhythmical  sounds,  give 
pleasure  and  are  called  beautiful ;  but  why  this  should  be 
so,  we  know  no  more  than  why  certain  bodily  sensations 
are  agreeable  and  others  disagreeable.  It  is  certainly  not 
true  that  there  is  in  the  mind  of  man  any  universal  stand- 
ard of  beauty  with  respect  to  the  human  body.  It  is,  how- 
ever, possible  that  certain  tastes  may  in  the  course  of  time 
become  inherited,  though  I  know  of  no  evidence  in  favor 
of  this  belief;  and  if  so,  each  race  would  possess  its  own 
innate  ideal  standard  of  beauty.  It  has  been  argued "' 
that  ugliness  consists  in  an  approach  to  the  structure  of 
the  lower  animals,  and  this  no  doubt  is  true  with  the  more 
civilized  nations,  in  which  intellect  is  highly  appreciated ; 
but  a  nose  twice  as  prominent,  or  eyes  twice  as  large  as 
usual  would  not  be  an  approach  in  structure  to  any  of  the 
lower  animals,  and  yet  would  be  utterly  hideous.  The 
men  of  each  race  prefer  what  they  are  accustomed  to  be- 
hold ;  they  cannot  endure  any  great  change ;  but  they  like 
variety,  and  admire  each  characteristic  point  carried  to  a 
moderate  extreme.'"  Men  accustomed  to  a  nearly  oval 
face,  to  straight  and  regular  features,  and  to  bright  colors, 
admire,  as  we  Europeans  know,  these  points  when  strongly 
developed.  On  the  other  hand,  men  accustomed  to  a 
broad  face,  with  high  cheek-bones,  a  depressed  nose,  and 

**  Schaaff  hausen,  '  Arohiv  fiir  Anthropologic,'  1866,  s.  164. 

™  Mr.  Bain  has  collected  ('  Mental  and  Moral  Science,'  1868,  pp.  304- 
314)  about  a  dozen  more  or  less  different  theories  of  the  idea  of  beauty; 
but  none  are  quite  the  same  with  that  here  given. 
34 


338  SEXUAL  SELECTION:  MAN.  [Part  IL 

a  black  skin,  admire  these  points  strongly  developed.  No 
doul)t  characters  of  all  kinds  may  easily  be  too  niucli  de- 
veloped for  beauty.  Hence  a  perfect  beauty,  which  im- 
plies many  characters  modified  in  a  particular  manner,  will 
in  every  race  be  a  prodigy.  As  the  great  anatomist  Bi- 
chat  long  ago  said,  if  every  one  were  cast  in  the  same 
mould,  there  would  be  no  such  thing  as  beauty.  If  all 
our  women  were  to  become  as  beautiful  as  the  Venus  de 
Medici,  we  should  for  a  time  be  charmed ;  but  we  should 
soon  wish  for  variety ;  and  as  soon  as  we  had  obtained 
variety,  we  should  wish  to  see  certain  characters  in  our 
women  a  little  exaggerated  beyond  the  then  existing  com- 
mon standard. 


Chap.  XX.]  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  339 


CHAPTER    XX. 

Secondary  Sexual  Characters  op  Man — continued. 

On  the  EiFects  of  the  Continued  Selection  of  "Women  according  to  a 
Ditt'erent  Standard  of  Beauty  in  each  Eace. — On  the  Causes  which 
interfere  with  Sexual  Selection  in  Civilized  and  Savage  Nations. — 
Conditions  favorable  to  Sexual  Selection  during  Primeval  Times.— On 
the  Manner  of  Action  of  Sexual  Selection  with  Mankind.— On  the 
"Women  in  Savage  Tribes  having  some  Power  to  choose  their  Hus- 
bands.— Absence  of  Hair  on  the  Body,  and  Development  of  the  Beard. 
^Color  of  the  Skin. — Summary. 

We  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  that  with  all  barbar- 
ous races  ornaments,  dress,  and  external  appearance,  are 
highly  valued  ;  and  that  the  men  judge  of  the  beauty  of 
their  women  by  widely-different  standards.  We  must 
next  inquire  whether  this  preference  and  the  consequent 
selection  during  many  generations  of  those  women,  which 
appear  to  the  men  of  each  race  the  most  attractive,  has 
altered  the  character  either  of  the  females  alone  or  of  both 
sexes.  With  mammals  the  general  rule  appears  to  be  that 
characters  of  all  kinds  are  inherited  equally  by  the  males 
and  females  ;  we  might  therefore  expect  that  with  man- 
kind any  characters  gained  through  sexual  selection  by 
the  females  would  commonly  be  transferred  to  the  oft- 
spring  of  both  sexes.  If  any  change  has  thus  been  ef- 
fected it  is  almost  certain  that  the  different  races  will  have 
been  differently  modified,  as  each  has  its  own  standard  of 
beauty. 

With  mankind,  especially  with  savages,  many  causes 


340  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

interfere  with  tlic  action  of  sexual  selection  as  far  as  the 
bodily  frame  is  concerned.  Civilized  men  are  largely  at- 
tracted by  the  mental  charms  of  women,  by  their  wealth, 
and  especially  by  their  social  position ;  for  men  rarely 
marry  into  a  mucli  lower  rank  of  life.  The  men  who  suc- 
ceed in  obtaining  the  more  beautiful  women,  will  not  have 
a  better  chance  of  leaving  a  long  line  of  descendants  than 
other  men  with  plainer  wives,  with  the  exception  of  the 
few  who  bequeath  their  fortunes  according  to  primogeni- 
ture. With  respect  to  the  opposite  form  of  selection, 
namely,  of  the  more  attractive  men  by  the  women,  al- 
thougli  in  civilized  nations  women  have  free  or  almost 
free  choice,  which  is  not  the  case  with  barbarous  races, 
yet  their  choice  is  largely  influenced  by  the  social  position 
and  wealth  of  the  men ;  and  the  success  of  the  latter  in 
life  largely  depends  on  their  intellectual  powers  and  energy, 
or  on  the  fruits  of  these  same  powers  in  their  forefathers. 

There  is,  however,  reason  to  believe  that  sexual  se- 
lection has  effected  something  in  certain  civilized  and 
semi-civilized  nations.  Many  persons  are  convinced,  as  it 
appears  to  me  with  justice,  that  the  members  of  our  aris- 
tocracy, including  under  this  term  all  wealthy  families  in 
which  primogeniture  has  long  prevailed,  from  having 
chosen  during  many  generations  from  all  classes  the  more 
beautiful  women  as  their  wives,  have  become  handsomer, 
according  to  the  European  standard  of  beauty,  than  the 
middle  classes ;  yet  the  middle  classes  are  placed  under 
equally  fivvorable  conditions  of  life  for  the  perfect  devel- 
opment of  the  body.  Cook  remarks  that  the  superiority 
in  personal  appearance  "  which  is  observable  in  tlie  erees 
or  nobles  in  all  the  otlier  islands  (of  the  Pacific)  is  found 
in  the  Sandwich  islands  ; "  but  this  may  be  chiefly  due  to 
their  better  food  and  manner  of  life. 

The  old  traveller  Chardin,  in  describing  the  Persians, 
says  their  "blood  is  now  highly  refined  by  frequent  inter- 


Chap.  XX.]  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  341 

mixtures  with  the  Georgians  and  Circassians,  two  nations 
which  surpass  all  the  world  in  personal  beauty.  There  is 
hardly  a  man  of  rank  in  Persia  who  is  not  born  of  a  Geor- 
gian or  Circassian  mother."  He  adds  that  they  inherit 
their  beauty,  "  not  from  their  ancestors,  for  without  the 
above  mixture,  the  men  of  rank  in  Persia,  who  are  de- 
scendants of  the  Tartars,  would  be  extremely  ugly."  * 
Here  is  a  more  curious  case  :  the  priestesses  who  attended 
the  temple  of  Venus  Erycina  at  San-Giuliano  in  Sicily, 
were  selected  for  their  beauty  out  of  the  whole  of  Greece ; 
they  were  not  vestal  virgins,  and  Quatrefages,**  who  makes 
this  statement,  says  that  the  women  of  San-Giuliano  are 
famous  at  the  present  day  as  the  most  beautiful  in  the 
island,  and  are  sought  by  artists  as  models.  But  it  is  ob- 
vious that  the  evidence  in  the  above  cases  is  doubtful. 

The  following  case,  though  relating  to  savages,  is  well 
worth  giving  from  its  curiosity.  Mr.  Winwood  Reade 
informs  me  that  the  Jollofs,  a  tribe  of  negroes  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa,  "  are  remarkable  for  their  uniformly 
fine  appearance."  A  friend  of  his  asked  one  of  these  men, 
"  How  is  it  that  every  one  whom  I  meet  is  so  fine-looking, 
not  only  your  men,  but  your  women  ?  "  The  Jollof  an- 
swered, "It  is  very  easily  explained :  it  has  always  been 
our  custom  to  pick  out  our  worse-looking  slaves  and  to 
sell  them."  It  need  hardly  be  added  that  with  all  sav- 
ages female  slaves  serve  as  concubines.  That  this  negro 
should  have  attributed,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  the 
fine  appearance  of  his  tribe  to  the  long-continued  elimina- 
tion of  the  ugly  women,  is  not  so  surprising  as  it  may  at 
first  appear ;    for  I  have  elsewhere  shown  that  negroes 

'  These  quotations  are  taken  from  Lawrence  ('  Lectures  on  Physiol- 
ogy,' etc.  1822,  p.  393),  who  attributes  the  beauty  of  the  upper  classes  in 
England  to  the  men  having  long  selected  the  more  beautiful  women. 

'  " Anthi-opologie,"  'Revue  des  Cours  Scientifiques,'  Oct.  1868,  p. 
Y21. 


342  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

fully  appreciate  the  importance  of  selection  in  the  breed- 
ing of  their  domestic  animals,"  and  I  could  give  from  Mr. 
Reade  additional  evidence  on  this  head. 

On  the  Causes  which  prevent  or  check  the  Action  of 
Sexual  Selection  with  Savages. — The  chief  causes  are, 
firstly,  so-called  communal  marriages  or  promiscuous  in- 
tercourse ;  secondly,  infanticide,  especially  of  female  in- 
fants ;  thirdly,  early  betrothals ;  and  lastly,  the  low  esti- 
mation in  which  women  are  held,  as  mere  slaves.  These 
four  points  must  be  considered  in  some  detail. 

It  is  obvious  that  as  long  as  the  pairing  of  man,  or  of 
any  other  animal,  is  left  to  chance,  with  no  choice  exerted 
by  either  sex,  there  can  be  no  sexual  selection ;  and  no 
effect  will  be  produced  on  the  offspring  by  certain  indi- 
viduals having  had  an  advantage  over  others  in  their 
courtshij).  Now  it  is  asserted  that  there  exist  at  the  pres- 
ent day  tribes  which  practise  what  Sir  J.  Lubbock  by 
courtesy  calls  communal  marriages ;  that  is,  all  the  men 
and  women  in  the  tribe  are  husbands  and  wives  to  each 
other.  The  licentiousness  of  many  savages  is  no  doubt 
astonishingly  great,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  more  evi- 
dence is  requisite  before  we  fully  admit  that  their  existing 
intercourse  is  absolutely  promiscuous.  Nevertheless  all 
those  who  have  most  closely  studied   the  subject,*  and 

2  '  The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  vol.  i. 
p.  207 

*  Sir  J.  Lubbock,  'The  Origin  of  Civilization,'  1870,  chap.  iii.  espe- 
cially pp.  60-07.  Mr.  McLennan,  in  his  extremely  valuable  work  on 
'Primitive  Marriage,'  18G5,  p.  163,  speaks  of  the  union  of  the  sexes  "in 
the  earliest  times  as  loose,  transitory,  and  in  some  degree  promiscuous." 
Mr.  McLennan  and  Sir  J.  Lubbock  have  collected  much  evidence  on  the 
extreme  licentiousness  of  savages  at  the  present  time.  Mr.  L.  H.  Mor- 
gan, in  hi.s  interesting  memoir  on  the  classificatory  system  of  relaticnsliip 
(' Proc.  American  Acad,  of  Sciences,'  vol.  vii.  Feb.  1868,  p.  475)  con- 
cludes that  polygamy  and  all  forms  of  marriage  during  primeval  times 


Chap.  XX.]  INTERFERING   CAUSES.  343 

whose  judgment  is  worth  much  more  than  mine,  believe 
that  communal  marriage  was  the  original  and  universal 
form  throughout  the  world,  including  the  intermarriage 
of  brothers  and  sisters.  The  indirect  evidence  in  favor 
of  this  belief  is  extremely  strong,  and  rests  chiefly  on  the 
terms  of  relationship  which  are  employed  between  the 
members  of  the  same  tribe,  implying  a  connection  with 
the  tribe  alone,  and  not  with  either  parent.  But  the  sub- 
ject is  too  large  and  complex  for  even  an  abstract  to  be 
here  given,  and  I  will  confine  myself  to  a  few  remarks. 
It  is  evident  in  the  case  of  communal  marriages,  or  where 
the  marriage-tie  is  very  loose,  that  the  relationship  of  the 
child  to  its  father  cannot  be  known.  But  it  seems  almost 
incredible  that  the  relationship  of  the  child  to  its  mother 
should  ever  have  been  completely  ignored,  especially  as 
the  women  in  most  savage  tribes  nurse  their  infants  for  a 
long  time.  Accordingly  in  many  cases  the  lines  of  de- 
scent are  traced  through  the  mother  alone,  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  father.  But  in  many  other  cases  the  terms  em- 
ployed express  a  connection  with  the  tribe  alone,  to  the 
exclusion  even  of  the  mother.  It  seems  possible  that  the 
connection  between  the  related  members  of  the  same  bar- 
barous tribe,  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  danger,  might  be  so 
much  more  important,  owing  to  the  need  of  mutual  pro- 
tection and  aid,  than  that  between  the  mother  and  her 
child,  as  to  lead  to  the  sole  use  of  terms  expressive  of  the 
former  relationships ;  but  Mr.  Morgan  is  convinced  that 
this  view  of  the  case  is  by  no  means  sufficient. 

The  terms  of  relationship  used  in  difierent  parts  of  the 
world  may  be  divided,  according  to  the  author  just 
quoted,  into  two  great  classes,  the  classificatory  and  de- 
scriptive— the  latter  being  employed  by  us.     It   is   the 

were  essentially  unknown.  It  appears,  also,  from  Sir  J.  Lubbock's  work, 
that  Bachofen  likewise  believes  that  communal  intercourse  originally 
prevailed. 


344  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

classificatory  system  which  so  strongly  leads  to  the  belief 
that  communal  and  other  extremely  loose  forms  of  mar- 
riage were  originally  universal.  But,  as  far  as  I  can  see, 
there  is  no  net-essity  on  this  ground  for  believing  in  abso- 
lutely promiscuous  intercourse.  Men  and  women,  like 
many  of  the  lower  animals,  might  formerly  have  entered 
into  strict  though  temporary  unions  for  each  birth,  and  in 
this  case  nearly  as  much  confusion  would  have  arisen  in 
the  tenns  of  relationship  as  in  the  case  of  promiscuous  in- 
tercourse. As  far  as  sexual  selection  is  concerned,  all  that 
is  required  is  that  choice  should  be  exerted  before  the  par- 
ents unite,  and  it  signifies  little  whether  the  unions  last 
for  life  or  only  for  a  season. 

Besides  the  evidence  derived  from  the  terms  of  rela- 
tionship, other  lines  of  reasoning  indicate  the  former  wide 
prevalence  of  communal  marriage.  Sir  J.  Lubbock  in- 
geniously accounts  ^  for  the  strange  and  widely-extended 
habit  of  exogamy — that  is,  the  men  of  one  tribe  always 
taking  wives  from  a  distinct  tribe — by  communism  hav- 
ing been  the  original  form  of  marriage  ;  so  that  a  man 
never  obtained  a  wnfe  for  himself  unless  he  captured  her 
from  a  neigliboring  and  hostile  tribe,  and  then  she  would 
naturally  have  become  his  sole  and  valuable  property. 
Thus  the  practice  of  capturing  wives  might  have  arisen  ; 
and  from  the  honor  so  gained  might  ultimately  have  be- 
come the  universal  habit.  We  can  also,  according  to  Sir 
J.  Lubbock,*  thus  imderstand  "the  necessity  of  expiation 
for  marriage  as  an  infringement  of  tribal  rites,  since,  ac- 
cording to  old  ideas,  a  man  had  no  right  to  appropriate  to 
himself  that  which  belonged  to  the  whole  tribe."  Sir  J. 
Lubbock  further  gives  a  most  curious  body  of  facts  show- 
ing that  in  old  times  high  honor  was  bestowed  on  women 
who  were  utterly  licentious ;  and  this,  as  he  explains,  is 

'  Address  to  British  Association  '  On  the  Social  and  Religious  Condi- 
tion  of  the  Lower  Races  of  Man,'  1870,  p.  20. 


Chap.  XX.]  INTERFEKING   CAUSES.  345 

intelligible,  if  we  admit  that  promiscuous  intercourse  was 
the  aboriginal  and  therefore  long-revered  custom  of  the 
tribe." 

Although  the  manner  of  development  of  the  marriage- 
tie  is  an  obscure  subject,  as  we  may  infer  from  the  diver- 
gent opinions  on  several  points  between  the  three  authors 
who  have  studied  it  most  closely,  namely,  Mr.  Morgan, 
Mr.  McLennan,  and  Sir  J.  Lubbock,  yet  from  the  forego- 
ing and  several  other  lines  of  evidence  it  seems  certain 
that  the  habit  of  marriage  has  been  gradually  developed, 
and  that  almost  promiscuous  intercourse  was  once  ex- 
tremely common  throughout  the  world,  Nevertheless, 
from  the  analogy  of  the  lower  animals,  more  particularly 
of  those  whicli  come  nearest  to  man  in  the  series,  I  cannot 
believe  that  this  habit  prevailed  at  an  extremely  remote 
period,  when  man  had  hardly  attained  to  his  present  rank 
in  the  zoological  scale.  Man,  as  I  have  attempted  to 
show,  is  certainly  descended  from  some  ape-like  creature. 
With  the  existing  Quadrumana,  as  far  as  their  habits  are 
known,  the  males  of  some  species  are  monogamous,  but 
live  during  only  a  part  of  the  year  with  the  females,  as 
seems  to  be  the  case  with  the  Orang.  Several  kinds,  as 
some  of  the  Indian  and  American  monkeys,  are  strictly 
monogamous,  and  associate  all  the  year  round  with  their 
wives.  Others  are  polygamous,  as  the  Gorilla  and  sev- 
eral American  species,  and  each  family  lives  separate. 
Even  when  this  occurs,  the  families  inhabiting  the  same 
district  are  probably  to  a  certain  extent  social :  the  Chim- 
panzee, for  instance,  is  occasionally  met  with  in  large 
bands.  Again,  other  species  are  polygamous,  but  several 
males,  each  with  their  own  females,  live  associated  in  a 

*  '  Origin  of  Civilization,'  1870,  p.  86.  In  the  several  works  above 
quoted  there  will  be  found  copious  evidence  on  relationship  through  the 
females  alone,  or  with  the  tribe  alone. 


346  SEXUAL  SELECTION :    MAX.  [Part  IL 

body,  as  with  several  species  of  Baboons.'  We  may  in- 
deed conclude  from  Avliat  we  know  of  the  jealousy  of  all 
male  quadrupeds,  arnMjd,  as  many  of  them  are,  with  spe- 
cial weapons  for  battling  with  their  rivals,  that  promis- 
cuous intercourse  in  a  state  of  nature  is  extremely  improb- 
able. The  pairing  may  not  last  for  life,  but  only  for  each 
birth ;  yet  if  the  males  which  are  the  strongest  and  best 
able  to  defend  or  otherwise  assist  their  females  and  young 
offspring,  were  to  select  the  more  attractive  females,  this 
would  suffice  for  the  work  of  sexual  selection. 

Therefore,  if  we  look  far  enough  back  in  the  stream  of 
time,  it  is  extremely  improbable  that  primeval  men  and 
women  lived  promiscuously  together.  Judging  from  the 
social  habits  of  man  as  he  now  exists,  and  from  most  sav- 
ages being  polygamists,  the  most  probable  view  is  that 
primeval  man  aboriginally  lived  in  small  communities, 
each  with  as  many  Avives  as  he  could  support  and  obtain, 
whom  he  would  have  jealously  guarded  against  all  other 
men.  Or  he  may  have  lived  with  several  wives  by  him- 
self, like  the  Gorilla ;  for  all  the  natives  "  agree  that  but 
one  adult  male  is  seen  in  a  band  ;  when  the  young  male 
grows  up,  a  contest  takes  place  for  mastery,  and  the 
strongest,  by  killing  and  driving  out  the  others,  estab- 
lishes himself  as  the  head  of  the  community."  *  The 
younger  males,  being  thus  expelled  and  wandering  about, 
would,  when  at  last  successful  in  finding  a  partner,  pre- 
vent too  close  interbreeding  within  the  limits  of  the  same 
family. 

'  Brehm  ('  Illust.  Thierleben,'  B.  i.  p.  77)  says  CynoccpJialm  hama- 
dryas  lives  in  great  troops  containing  twice  as  many  adult  females  as 
adult  males.  See  Rengger  on  American  polygamous  species,  and  Owen 
('  Anat.  of  Vertebrates,'  vol.  ili.  p.  746)  on  American  monogamous  spe- 
cies.    Other  references  might  be  added. 

*  Dr.  Savage,  in  '  Boston  Journal  of  Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  v.  1845-47,  p. 
423. 


Chap.  XX.]  INTERFERING   CAUSES.  347 

Although  savages  are  now  extremely  licentious,  and 
although  communal  marriages  may  formerly  have  largely 
prevailed,  yet  many  tribes  practise  some  form  of  mar- 
riage, but  of  a  far  more  lax  nature  than  with  civilized 
nations.  Polygamy,  as  just  stated,  is  almost  universally 
followed  by  the  leading  men  in  every  tribe.  Nevertheless, 
there  are  tribes,  standing  almost  at  the  bottom  of  the 
scale,  which  are  strictly  monogamous.  This  is  the  case 
with  the  Veddahs  of  Ceylon :  they  have  a  saying,  accord- 
ing to  Sir  J.  Lubbock,'  "  that  deatli  alone  can  separate  hus- 
band and  wife."  An  intelligent  Kandyan  chief,  of  course 
a  polygamist,  "  was  perfectly  scandalized  at  the  utter 
barbarism  of  living  with  only  one  wife,  and  never  parting 
until  separated  by  death."  It  was,  he  said,  "just  like  the 
Wanderoo  monkeys."  Whether  savages  who  now  enter 
into  some  form  of  marriage,  either  polygamous  or  monog- 
amous, have  retained  this  habit  from  primeval  times,  or 
whether  they  have  returned  to  some  form  of  marriage, 
after  passing  through  a  stage  of  promiscuous  intercourse, 
I  will  not  pretend  to  conjecture. 

Infanticide.  —  This  practice  is  now  very  common 
throughout  the  world,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
it  prevailed  much  more  extensively  during  former  times." 
Barbarians  find  it  difficult  to  support  themselves  and  their 
children,  and  it  is  a  simple  plan  to  kill  their  infants.  In 
South  America  some  tribes,  as  Azara  states,  formerly  de- 
stroyed so  many  infants  of  both  sexes,  that  they  were  on 
the  point  of  extinction.  In  the  Polynesian  Islands  wom- 
en have  been  known  to  kill  from  four  or  five  to  even  ten 
of  their  children ;  and  Ellis  could  not  find  a  single  woman 
who  had  not  killed  at  least  one.     Wherever  infanticide 

9  '  Prehistoric  Times,'  1869,  p.  424. 

'"  Mr.  McLennan,  'Primitive  Marriage,'  1865.  See  especially  on  ex- 
ogamy and  infanticide,  pp.  130,  138,  165. 


348  SEXUAL  SELECTION :   MAN.  [Part  IL 

prevails  the  struggle  for  existence  will  be  in  so  far  less 
severe,  and  all  the  members  of  the  tribe  will  have  an  al- 
most equally  good  chance  of  rearing  their  few  surviving 
children.  In  most  cases  a  larger  number  of  female  than 
of  male  infants  are  destroyed,  for  it  is  obvious  that  the 
latter  are  of  most  value  to  the  tribe,  as  they  will  when 
grown  up  aid  in  defending  it,  and  can  support  themselves. 
But  the  trouble  experienced  by  the  women  in  rearing 
children,  their  consequent  loss  of  beauty,  the  higher  esti- 
mation set  on  them  and  their  happier  fate,  when  few  in 
number,  are  assigned  by  the  women  themselves,  and  by 
various  observers,  as  additional  motives  for  infanticide. 
In  Australia,  where  female  infanticide  is  still  common,  Sir 
G.  Grey  estimated  the  proportion  of  native  women  to 
men  as  one  to  three  ;  but  others  say  as  two  to  three.  In 
a  village  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  India,  Colonel  Maccul- 
loch  found  not  a  single  female  child." 

When,  owing  to  female  infanticide,  the  women  of  a 
tribe  are  few  in  number,  the  habit  of  capturing  wives 
from  neighboring  tribes  would  naturally  arise.  Sir  J. 
Lubbock,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  attributes  the  prac- 
tice, in  chief  part,  to  the  former  existence  of  communal 
marriage,  and  to  the  men  having  consequently  captured 
women  from  other  tribes  to  hold  as  their  sole  property. 
Additional  causes  might  be  assigned,  such  as  the  com- 
munities being  very  small,  in  which  case,  marriageable 
women  would  often  be  deficient.  That  the  habit  of  cap- 
ture was  most  extensively  practised  during  former  times, 
even  by  the  ancestors  of  civilized  nations,  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  preservation  of  many  curious  customs  and  cere- 
monies, of  which  Mr.  McLennan  has  given  a  most  inter- 

"  Dr.  Garland  ('Ueber  das  Aussterben  dcr  Naturvolker,'  1868)  has 
collected  much  information  on  infanticide,  see  especially  s.  27,  51,  54. 
Azara  ('Voyages,'  etc.,  torn.  ii.  pp.  94,  116)  enters  in  detail  on  the  mo- 
tives.    See  also  McLennan  (ibid.  p.  139)  for  cases  in  India. 


Chap.  XX.]  INTERFERING  CAUSES.  349 

esting  account.  In  our  own  marriages  the  "  best  man  " 
seems  originally  to  have  been  the  chief  abettor  of  the 
bridegroom  in  the  act  of  capture.  Now,  as  long  as  men 
habitually  procured  their  wives  through  violence  and 
craft,  it  is  not  probable  that  they  would  have  selected  the 
more  attractive  women ;  they  would  have  been  too  glad 
to  have  seized  on  any  woman.  But  as  soon  as  the  prac- 
tice of  procuring  wives  from  a  distinct  tribe  was  effected 
through  barter,  as  now  occurs  in  many  places,  the  more 
attractive  women  would  generally  have  been  purchased. 
The  incessant  crossing,  however,  between  tribe  and  tribe, 
which  necessarily  follows  from  any  form  of  this  habit 
would  have  tended  to  keep  all  the  people  inhabiting  the 
same  country  nearly  uniform  in  character ;  and  this  would 
have  greatly  interfered  with  the  power  of  sexual  selection 
in  differentiating  the  tribes. 

The  scarcity  of  women,  consequent  on  female  infanti- 
cide, leads  also  to  another  practice,  namely,  polyandry, 
which  is  still  common  in  sevei-al  parts  of  the  world,  and 
which  formerly,  as  Mr.  McLennan  believes,  prevailed  al- 
most universally ;  but  this  latter  conclusion  is  doubted  by 
Mr.  Morgan  and  Sir  J.  Lubbock."  Whenever  two  or 
more  men  are  compelled  to  marry  one  woman,  it  is  certain 
that  all  the  women  of  the  tribe  will  get  married,  and 
there  will  be  no  selection  by  the  men  of  the  more  attrac- 
tive women.  But,  under  these  circumstances,  the  women 
no  doubt  will  have  the  power  of  choice,  and  will  prefer 
the  more  attractive  men.  Azara,  for  instance,  describes 
how  carefully  a  Guana  woman  bargains  for  all  sorts  of 
privileges  before  accepting  some  one  or  more  husbands  ; 
and  the  men  in  consequence  take  unusual  care  of  their 

"  '  Primitive  Marriage,'  p.  208  ;  Sir  J.  Lubbock,  '  Origin  of  Civiliza- 
tion,' p.  100.  See  also  Mr.  Morgan,  loc.  cit.,  on  former  prevalence  of 
polyandry. 


350  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

personal  appearance.'*  The  very  ugly  men  would  perhaps 
altogether  fail  in  getting  a  wife,  or  get  one  later  in  life, 
but  the  handsomer  men,  although  the  most  successful  in 
obtaining  wives,  would  not,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  leave 
more  offspring  to  inherit  their  beauty  than  the  less  hand- 
some husbands  of  the  same  women. 

Early  Betrothals  and  Slavery  of  Women. — "With  many 
savages  it  is  the  custom  to  betroth  the  females  wliile  mere 
infants ;  and  this  would  effectually  prevent  preference  be- 
ing exerted,  on  either  side,  according  to  personal  appear- 
ance. But  it  would  not  prevent  the  more  attractive 
women  from  being  afterward  stolen  or  taken  by  force 
fi'om  their  husbands  by  the  more  powerful  men ;  and  this 
often  happens  in  Australia,  America,  and  other  parts  of 
the  world.  The  same  consequences  with  reference  to 
sexual  selection  would  to  a  certain  extent  follow  when 
women  are  valued  almost  exclusively  as  slaves  or  beasts 
of  burden,  as  is  the  case  with  most  savages.  The  men, 
however,  at  all  times  would  prefer  the  handsomest  slaves 
according  to  their  standard  of  beauty. 

We  thus  see  that  several  customs  prevail  with  savages 
which  would  greatly  interfere  with,  or  completely  stop, 
the  action  of  sexual  selection.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
conditions  of  life  to  which  savages  are  exposed,  and  some 
of  their  habits,  are  favorable  to  natural  selection ;  and 
this  always  comes  into  play  together  with  sexual  selec- 
tion. Savages  are  known  to  suffer  severely  from  recur- 
rent famines ;  they  do  not  increase  their  food  by  artificial 
means ;  they  rarely  refrain  from  marriage,'*  and  generally 

13  « Voyaf^cs,'  etc.,  torn.  ii.  pp.  92-95. 

"  Burchell  says  ('  Travels  in  South  Africa,'  vol.  ii.  1824,  p.  58),  that 
among  the  wild  nations  of  Southern  Africa,  neither  men  nor  women  ever 
pass  their  lives  in  a  state  of  celibacy.     Azara  ('  Voyages  dans  I'Amerique 


Chap.  XX.]  MANNER  OF  ACTION.  351 

marry  young.  Consequently  they  must  be  subjected  to 
occasional  hard  struggles  for  existence,  and  the  favored 
individuals  will  alone  survive. 

Turning  to  primeval  times  when  men  had  only  doubt- 
fully attained  the  rank  of  manhood,  they  would  probably 
have  lived,  as  already  stated,  either  as  polygamists  or 
temporarily  as  monogamists.  Their  intercourse,  judging 
from  analogy,  would  not  then  have  been  promiscuous. 
They  would,  no  doubt,  have  defended  their  females  to  the 
best  of  their  power  from  enemies  of  all  kinds,  and  would 
probably  have  hunted  for  their  subsistence,  as  well  as  for 
that  of  their  oftspring.  The  most  powerful  and  able 
males  would  have  succeeded  best  in  the  struggle  for  life 
and  in  obtaining  attractive  females.  At  this  early  period 
the  progenitors  of  man,  from  having  only  feeble  powers 
of  reason,  would  not  have  looked  forward  to  distant  con- 
tingencies. They  would  have  been  governed  more  by 
their  instincts  and  even  less  by  their  reason  than  are 
savages  at  the  present  day.  They  would  not  at  that 
period  have  partially  lost  one  of  the  strongest  of  all  in- 
stincts, common  to  all  the  lower  animals,  namely,  the  love 
of  their  young  offspring;  and  consequently  they  would 
not  have  practised  infanticide.  There  would  have  been 
no  ai'tificial  scarcity  of  women,  and  polyandry  would  not 
have  been  followed ;  there  would  have  been  no  early  be- 
trothals ;  women  would  not  have  been  valued  as  mere 
slaves ;  both  sexes,  if  the  females  as  well  as  the  males 
were  permitted  to  exert  any  choice,  would  have  chosen 
their  partners,  not  for  mental  charms,  or  property,  or 
social  position,  but  almost  solely  from  external  appear- 
ance. All  the  adults  would  have  married  or  paired,  and 
all  the  offspring,  as  far  as  that  was  possible,  would  have 
been  reared;   so  that  the  struggle  for  existence  would 

Merid.'  torn.  ii.  1809,  p.  21)  makes  precisely  the  same  remark  in  regard 
to  the  wild  Indians  of  South  America. 


352  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

have  been  periodically  severe  to  an  extreme  degree. 
Thus  during  those  primordial  times  all  the  conditi(ms  for 
sexual  selection  would  have  been  much  more  favorable 
than  at  a  later  period,  when  man  had  advanced  in  his 
intellectual  powers,  but  had  retrograded  in  his  instincts. 
Therefore,  whatever  influence  sexual  selection  may  have 
had  in  producing  the  differences  between  the  races  of 
man,  and  between  man  and  the  higher  Quadrumana,  this 
influence  would  have  been  much  more  powerful  at  a  very 
remote  period  than  at  the  present  day. 

On  the  Manner  of  Action  of  Sexual  Selection  with 
3fankincl. — With  primeval  men  under  the  favorable  con- 
ditions just  stated,  and  with  those  savages  who  at  the 
present  time  enter  into  any  marriage-tie  (but  subject  to 
greater  or  less  interference  according  as  the  habits  of 
female  infanticide,  early  betrothals,  etc.,  are  more  or  less 
practised),  sexual  selection  will  probably  have  acted  in 
the  following  manner  :  The  strongest  and  most  vigorous 
men — those  who  could  best  defend  and  hunt  for  their 
families,  and  during  later  times  the  chiefs  or  head-men — 
those  who  were  provided  with  the  best  weapons  and  who 
possessed  the  most  property,  such  as  a  larger  number  of 
dogs  or  other  animals,  would  have  succeeded  in  rearing  a 
greater  average  number  of  offspring,  than  would  the 
weaker,  poorer,  and  lower  members  of  the  same  tribes. 
There  can,  also,  be  no  doubt  that  such  men  would  gener- 
ally have  been  able  to  select  the  more  attractive  women. 
At  present  the  chiefs  of  nearly  every  tribe  throughout 
the  world  succeed  in  obtaining  more  than  one  wife.  Un- 
til recently,  as  I  hear  from  Mr.  Mantell,  almost  every  girl 
in  New  Zealand,  who  was  pretty,  or  promised  to  be 
pretty,  was  tapu  to  some  chief.  With  tlie  Kaffi-es,  as  Mr. 
C.  Hamilton  states,"  "  the  chiefs  generally  have  the  pick 

''  '  Authropological  Review,'  Jan.  1870,  p.  xvi. 


Chap.  XX.]  MANNER   OF  ACTION.  353 

of  the  women  for  many  miles  round,  and  are  most  perse- 
vering in  establishing  or  confirming  their  privilege."  We 
have  seen  that  each  race  has  its  own  style  of  beauty,  and 
we  know  that  it  is  natural  to  man  to  admire  each  charac- 
teristic point  in  his  domestic  animals,  dress,  ornaments, 
and  personal  appearance,  when  carried  a  little  beyond  the 
common  standard.  If,  then,  the  several  foregoing  proposi- 
tions be  admitted,  and  I  cannot  see  that  they  are  doubtful, 
it  would  be  an  inexplicable  circumstance,  if  the  selection 
of  the  more  attractive  women  by  the  more  powerful  men 
of  each  tribe,  who  would  rear  on  an  average  a  greater 
number  of  children,  did  not  after  the  lapse  of  many  gen- 
erations modify  to  a  certain  extent  the  chai'acter  of  the 
tribe. 

With  our  domestic  animals,  when  a  foreign  breed  is 
introduced  into  a  new  country,  or  when  a  native  breed  is 
long  and  carefully  attended  to,  either  for  use  or  ornament, 
it  is  found  after  several  generations  to  have  undergone, 
whenever  the  means  of  comparison  exist,  a  greater  or  less 
amount  of  change.  This  follows  from  unconscious  selec- 
tion during  a  long  series  of  generations — that  is,  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  most  approved  individuals — ^without  any 
wish  or  expectation  of  such  a  result  on  the  part  of  the 
breeder.  So,  again,  if  two  careful  breeders  rear  during 
many  years  animals  of  the  same  family,  and  do  not  com- 
pare them  together  or  with  a  common  standard,  the  ani- 
mals are  found  after  a  time  to  have  become,  to  the  surprise 
of  their  owners,  slightly  different."  Each  breeder  has  im- 
pressed, as  Von  Nathusius  well  expresses  it,  the  character 
of  his  own  mind — ^his  own  taste  and  judgment — on  his 
animals.  What  reason,  then,  can  be  assigned  why  similar 
results  should  not  follow  from  the  long-continued  selection 
of  the  most  admired  women  by  those  men  of  each  tribe 

'* '  The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  voL 
ii.  pp.  210-21'7. 


354  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

who  were  able  to  rear  to  maturity  the  greater  nuniher  of 
cliihlren  ?  This  would  be  unconscious  selection,  lor  an 
eliect  would  be  produced,  independently  of  any  wish  or 
expectation  on  the  part  of  the  men  who  preferred  certain 
women  to  others. 

Let  us  sujipose  the  members  of  a  tribe,  in  which  some 
fomi  of  marriage  was  practised,  to  spread  over  an  unoc- 
cujjied  continent ;  they  would  soon  split  up  into  distinct 
hordes,  which  would  be  separated  irom  each  other  by 
various  barriers,  and  still  more  effectuall)^  by  the  incessant 
wars  between  all  barbarous  nations.  The  hordes  would 
thus  be  exposed  to  slightly  difterent  conditions  and  habits 
of  life,  and  would  sooner  or  later  come  to  difter  in  some 
small  degree.  As  soon  as  this  occurred,  each  isolated 
tribe  would  form  for  itself  a  slightly  different  standard  of 
beauty ; "  and  then  unconscious  selection  would  come  into 
action  through  the  more  powerful  and  leading  savages 
preferring  certain  women  to  others.  Thus  the  differences 
between  the  tribes,  at  first  very  slight,  would  gradually 
and  inevitably  be  increased  to  a  greater  and  greater 
degree. 

With  animals  in  a  state  of  nature,  many  characters 
proper  to  the  males,  such  assize,  strength,  special  weapons, 
courage  and  pugnacity,  have  been  acquired  through  the 
law  of  battle.  The  semi-human  progenitors  of  man,  like 
their  allies  the  Quadrumana,  will  almost  certainly  have 
been  thus  modified ;  and,  as  savages  still  fight  for  the  pos- 
session of  their  women,  a  similar  process  of  selection  has 
probably  gone  on  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  present 
day.     Other  characters  proper  to  the  males  of  the  lower 

"  An  ingenious  writer  argues,  from  a  comparison  of  the  pictures  of 
Raphael,  Rubens,  and  modem  French  artists,  that  the  idea  of  beauty  is 
not  absolutely  the  same  even  throughout  Europe :  see  the  '  Lives  of 
Haydn  and  Mozart,'  by  M.  Pombet,  Eng.  translat.  p.  2*78. 


Chap.  XX.]  MANNER   OF  ACTION.  355 

animals,  such  as  bright  colors  and  various  ornaments,  have 
been  acquired  by  the  more  attractive  males  having  been 
preferred  by  the  females.  There  are,  however,  exceptional 
cases  in  which  the  males,  instead  of  having  been  the  se- 
lected, have  been  the  selectors.  We  recognize  such  cases 
by  the  females  having  been  rendered  more  highly  orna- 
mented than  the  males — their  ornamental  characters  having 
been  transmitted  exclusively  or  chiefly  to  their  female 
offspring.  One  such  case  has  been  described  in  the  order 
to  which  man  belongs,  namely,  with  the  Rhesus  monkey. 

Man  is  more  powerful  in  body  and  mind  than  woman, 
and  in  the  savage  state  he  keeps  her  in  a  far  more  abject 
state  of  bondage  than  does  the  male  of  any  other  animal ; 
therefore  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  should  have  gained 
the  power  of  selection.  Women  are  everywhere  conscious 
of  the  value  of  their  beauty;  and  when  they  have  the 
means,  they  take  more  delight  in  decorating  themselves 
with  all  sorts  of  ornaments  than  do  men.  They  borrow 
the  plumes  of  male  birds,  with  which  Nature  decked  this 
sex  in  order  to  charm  the  females.  As  women  have  long 
been  selected  for  beauty,  it  is  not  surprising  that  some  of 
the  successive  variations  should  have  been  transmitted  in 
a  limited  manner ;  and  consequently  that  women  should 
have  transmitted  their  beauty  in  a  somewhat  higher  degree 
to  their  female  than  to  their  male  offspring.  Hence  women 
have  become  more  beautiful,  as  most  persons  will  admit, 
than  men.  Women,  however,  certainly  transmit  most  of 
their  characters,  including  beauty,  to  their  offspring  of  both 
sexes ;  so  that  the  continued  preference  by  the  men  of 
each  race  of  the  more  attractive  women,  according  to  their 
standard  of  taste,  would  tend  to  modify  in  the  same  man- 
ner all  the  individuals  of  both  sexes  belonging  to  the 
race. 

With  respect  to  the  other  form  of  sexual  selection 
(which  with  the  lower  animals  is  much  the  most  common), 


35G  SEXUAL   SELECTION :   MAX.  [Part  II 

namely,  when  the  females  are  the  selectors,  and  accept 
only  those  males  which  excite  or  charm  them  most,  we 
have  reason  to  believe  that  it  formerly  acted  on  the  j)ro- 
genitors  of  man.  Man  in  all  probability  owes  his  beard, 
and  perhaps  some  other  characters,  to  inheritance  from  an 
ancient  progenitor  who  gained  in  this  manner  his  orna- 
ments. But  this  fonn  of  selection  may  have  occasionally 
acted  during  later  times ;  for  in  utterly  barbarous  tribes 
the  women  have  more  power  in  choosing,  rejecting,  and 
tempting  their  lovers,  or  of  afterward  changing  their  hus- 
bands, than  might  have  been  expected.  As  this  is  a  point 
of  some  importance,  I  will  give  in  detail  such  evidence  as 
I  have  been  able  to  collect. 

Ilearne  describes  how  a  woman  in  one  of  the  tribes  of 
Arctic  America  repeatedly  ran  away  from  her  husband 
and  joined  a  beloved  man  ;  and  with  the  Charruas  of  South 
America,  as  Azara  states,  the  power  of  divorce  is  perfectly 
free.  With  the  Abiponcs,  when  a  man  chooses  a  wife  he 
bargains  with  the  parents  about  the  price.  But,  "  it  fre- 
quently ^happens  that  the  girl  rescinds  what  has  been 
agreed  upon  between  the  parents  and  the  bridegroom, 
obstinately  rejecting  the  very  mention  of  marriage."  She 
often  runs  away,  liides  herself,  and  thus  eludes  the  bride- 
groom. In  the  Fiji  Islands  the  man  seizes  on  the  woman 
whom  he  wishes  for  his  wife  by  actual  or  pretended  force ; 
but  "  on  reaching  the  home  of  her  abductor,  should  she  not 
approve  of  the  match,  she  runs  to  some  one  who  can  pro- 
tect her ;  if,  however,  she  is  satisfied,  the  matter  is  settled 
forthwith."  In  Tierra  del  Fuego  a  young  man  first  obtains 
the  consent  of  the  parents  by  doing  them  some  service,  and 
then  he  attempts  to  carry  off  the  girl ;  "  but  if  she  is  un- 
willing, she  hides  herself  in  the  woods  until  her  admirer  is 
heartily  tired  of  looking  for  her,  and  gives  up  the  pursuit ; 
but  this  seldom  happens."  "With  the  Calmucks  there  is  a 
regular  race  between  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  the  for- 


Chap.  XX.]  MANNER   OF  ACTION.  357 

mer  having  a  fair  start ;  and  Clarke  "  was  assured  that  no 
instance  occurs  of  a  girl  being  caught,  unless  she  has  a 
partiality  to  the  pursuer."  So  with  the  wild  tribes  of  the 
Malay  archipelago  there  is  a  similar  racing-match ;  and  it 
appears  from  M.  Bourien's  account,  as  Sir  J.  Lubbock  re- 
marks, that  "  the  race  '  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle 
to  the  strong,'  but  to  the  young  man  who  has  the  good 
fortune  to  please  his  intended  bride." 

Turning  to  Africa :  the  Kaffres  buy  their  wives,  and 
girls  are  severely  beaten  by  their  fathers  if  they  will  not 
accept  a  chosen  husband ;  yet  it  is  manifest  from  many 
facts  given  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Shooter,  that  they  have  con- 
siderable power  of  choice.  Thus  very  ugly,  though  rich 
men,  have  been  known  to  fail  in  getting  wives.  The  girls, 
before  consenting  to  be  betrothed,  compel  the  men  to  show 
themselves  oif,  first  in  front  and  then  behind,  and  "  exhibit 
their  paces."  They  have  been  known  to  propose  to  a 
man,  and  they  not  rarely  run  away  with  a  favored  lover. 
With  the  degraded  Bushwomen  of  South  Africa,  "  when 
a  girl  has  grown  up  to  womanhood  without  having  been 
betrothed,  which,  however,  does  not  often  happen,  her 
lover  must  gain  her  approbation,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
parents."  '*  Mr.  Winwood  Reade  made  inquiries  for  me 
with  respect  to  the  negroes  of  Western  Africa,  and  he  in- 
forms me  that  "  the  women,  at  least  amortg  the  more  in- 
telligent pagan  tribes,  have  no  difiiculty  in  getting  the 
husbands  whom  they  may  desire,  although  it  is  considered 
unwomanly  to  ask  a  man  to  marry  them.    They  are  quite 

^8  Azara,  'Voyages,'  etc.  torn.  ii.  p.  23.  Dobrizhoffer,  'An  account 
of  the  Abipones,'  vol.  ii.  1822,  p.  20Y.  Williams  on  the  Fiji  Islanders, 
as  quoted  by  Lubbock,  '  Origin  of  Civilization,'  1870,  p.  79.  On  the 
Fuegians,  King  and  Fitz  Roy,  '  Voyages  of  the  Adventure  and  Beagle,^ 
vol.  ii.  1839,  p.  182.  On  the  Calmucks,  quoted  by  McLeunan,  'Primi- 
tive Marriage,'  1865,  p.  32.  On  the  Malays,  Lubbock,  ibid.  p.  76.  The 
Rev.  J.  Shooter,  'On  the  Kafirs  of  Natal,'  1857,'  pp.  52-60.  On  the 
Bushwomen,  Burchell,  'Travels  in  South  Africa,'  vol.  ii.  1824,  p.  59. 


358  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

capable  of  falling  in  love,  and  of  forming  tender,  passion- 
ate, and  faithful  attachments." 

We  thus  see  that  witli  savages  the  women  are  not  in 
quite  so  abject  a  state  in  relation  to  marriage  as  has  often 
been  supposed.  They  can  temj)t  the  men  whom  they 
prefer,  and  can  sometimes  reject  those  whom  they  dis- 
like, either  before  or  after  marriage.  Preference  on  the 
part  of  the  women,  steadily  acting  in  any  one  direc- 
tion, would  ultimately  affect  the  character  of  the  tribe ; 
for  the  women  would  generally  choose  not  merely  the 
handsomer  men,  according  to  their  standard  of  taste,  but 
those  who  were  at  the  same  time  best  able  to  defend  and 
support  them.  Such  well-endowed  pairs  would  commonly 
rear  a  larger  number  of  offspring  than  the  less  well  en- 
dowed. The  same  result  would  obviously  follow  in  a  still 
more  marked  manner  if  there  Avas  selection  on  both  sides  ; 
that  is,  if  the  more  attractive  and  at  the  same  time  more 
powerful  men  were  to  prefer,  and  were  prefeiTcd  by,  the 
more  attractive  women.  And  these  two  forms  of  selection 
seem  actually  to  have  occurred,  whether  or  not  simulta- 
neously, with  mankind,  especially  during  the  earlier  pe- 
riods of  our  long  history. 

We  will  now  consider  in  a  little  more  detail,  relatively 
to  sexual  selection,  some  of  the  characters  which  distin- 
guish the  several  races  of  man  from  each  other  and  from 
the  lower  animals,  namely,  the  more  or  less  complete  ab- 
sence of  hair  from  the  body  and  the  color  of  the  skin. 
We  need  say  nothing  about  the  great  diversity  in  the 
shape  of  the  features  and  of  the  skull  "between  the  differ- 
ent races,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  how  differ- 
ent is  the  standard  of  beauty  in  these  respects.  These 
characters  will  therefoi'e  probably  have  been  acted  on 
through  sexual  selection  ;  but  we  have  no  means  of  judging, 
as  far  as  I  can  see,  whether  they  have  been  acted  on 
chiefly  througli  tlie  male  or  female  side.  The  musical 
faculties  of  man  have  likewise  been  already  discussed. 


Chap.  XX.]  ABSENCE   OF  HAIR.  359 

Absence  of  Hair  on  the  Body^  and  its  Development  on 
the  Face  and  Head. — From  the  presence  of  the  "woolly 
hair  or  lanugo  on  the  human  foetus,  and  of  rudimentary 
hairs  scattered  over  the  body  during  maturity,  we  may 
infer  that  man  is  descended  from  some  animal  which  was 
born  hairy  and  remained  so  during  life.  The  loss  of  hair 
is  an  inconvenience  and  probably  an  injury  to  man  even 
under  a  hot  climate,  for  he  is  thus  exjjosed  to  sudden 
chills,  especially  during  wet  weather.  As  Mr.  Wallace 
remarks,  the  natives  in  all  countries  are  glad  to  protect 
their  naked  backs  and  shoulders  with  some  slight  cover- 
ing. No  one  supposes  that  the  nakedness  of  the  skin  is 
any  direct  advantage  to  man,  so  that  his  body  cannot  have 
been  divested  of  hair  through  natural  selection,"  Nor 
have  we  any  grounds  for  believing,  as  shown  in  a  for- 
mer chapter,  that  this  can  be  due  to  the  direct  action  of  the 
conditions  to  which  man  has  long  been  exposed,  or  that 
it  is  the  result  of  correlated  development. 

The  absence  of  hair  on  the  body  is  to  a  certain  extent 
a  secondary  sexual  character ;  for  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
women  are  less  hairy  than  men.     Therefore  we  may  rea- 

"  'Contributions  to  the  Theory  of  Natural  Selection,'  18*70,  p.  346. 
Mr.  Wallace  believes  (p.  350)  "  that  some  intelligent  power  has  guided 
or  determined  the  development  of  man ; "  and  he  considers  the  hair- 
less condition  of  the  skin  as  coming  under  this  head.  The  Rev.  T.  R. 
Stabbing,  in  commenting  on  this  view  ('  Transactions  of  Devonshire 
Assoc,  for  Science,'  1870)  remarks  that,  had  Mr.  Wallace  "  employed 
his  usual  ingenuity  on  the  question  of  man's  hairless  skin,  he  might  have 
seen  the  possibility  of  its  selection  through  its  superior  beauty  or  the 
health  attaching  to  superior  cleanliness.  At  any  rate  it  is  surprising 
that  he  should  picture  to  himself  a  superior  intelligence  plucking  the 
hair  from  the  backs  of  savage  men  (to  whom,  according  to  his  own  ac- 
count, it  would  have  been  useful  and  beneficial),  in  order  that  the  de- 
scendants of  the  poor  shorn  wretches  might,  after  many  deaths  from  cold 
and  damp  in  the  course  of  many  generations,"  have  been  forced  to  raise 
themselves  in  the  scale  of  civilization  through  the  practice  of  various 
arts,  in  the  manner  indicated  by  Mr.  Wallace. 


360  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN,  [Part  H. 

sonably  suspect  that  tliis  is  a  character  whicli  has  been 
gained  through  sexual  selection.  We  know  that  the  faces 
of  several  species  of  monkeys,  and  large  surfaces  at  the  pos- 
terior end  of  the  body  in  other  species,  have  been  denuded 
of  hair;  and  this  we  may  safely  attribute  to  sexual  selec- 
tion, for  these  surfaces  are  not  only  vividly  colored,  but 
sometimes,  as  with  the  male  mandrill  and  female  rhesus, 
much  more  vividly  in  the  one  sex  than  in  the  other.  As 
these  animals  gradually  reach  maturity  the  naked  surfaces, 
as  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Bartlett,  grow  larger,  relatively 
to  the  size  of  their  bodies.  The  hair,  however,  appears  to 
have  been  removed  in  these  cases,  not  for  the  sake  of  nu- 
dity, but  that  the  color  of  the  skin  should  be  more  fully 
displayed.  So,  again,  with  many  birds  the  head  and 
neck  have  been  divested  of  feathers  through  sexual 
selection,  for  the  sake  of  exhibiting  the  brightly-colored 
skin. 

As  woman  has  a  less  hairy  body  than  man,  and  as 
this  character  is  common  to  all  races,  we  may  conclude 
that  our  female  semi-human  progenitors  were  probably 
first  partially  divested  of  hair;  and  that  this  occurred  at 
an  extremely  remote  j^eriod  before  the  several  races  had 
diverged  from  a  common  stock.  As  our  female  progeni- 
tors gradually  acquired  this  new  character  of  nudity,  they 
must  have  transmitted  it  in  an  almost  equal  degree  to 
their  young  offspring  of  both  sexes ;  so  that  its  transmis- 
sion, as  in  the  case  of  many  ornaments  with  mammals  and 
birds,  has  not  been  limited  either  by  age  or  sex.  There  is 
nothing  surprising  in  a  partial  loss  of  hair  having  been 
esteemed  as  ornamental  by  the  ape-like  progenitors  of 
man,  for  we  have  seen  that  with  animals  of  all  kinds  in- 
numerable strange  characters  have  been  thus  esteemed, 
and  have  consequently  been  modified  through  sexual 
selection.  Nor  is  it  surprising  that  a  character  in  a  slight 
degree  injurious  should  have  been  thus  acquired;  for  we 


Chap.  XX.]  ABSENCE   OF   HAIR.  361 

know  that  this  is  the  case  with  the  plumes  of  some  birds, 
and  with  the  horns  of  some  stags. 

The  females  of  certain  anthropoid  apes,  as  stated  in  a 
former  chapter,  are  somewhat  less  hairy  on  the  under  sur- 
face than  are  the  males ;  and  here  we  have  what  might 
have  afforded  a  commencement  for  the  process  of  denu- 
dation. With  respect  to  the  completion  of  the  process 
through  sexual  selection,  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  the 
New-Zealand  proverb,  "  There  is  no  woman  for  a  hairy 
man,"  All  who  have  seen  photographs  of  the  Siamese 
hairy  family  will  admit  how  ludicrously  hideous  is  the 
opposite  extreme  of  excessive  hairiness.  Hence  the  King 
of  Siam  had  to  bribe  a  man  to  marry  the  first  hairy  wom- 
an in  the  family,  who  transmitted  this  character  to  her 
young  offspring  of  both  sexes.^" 

Some  races  are  much  more  hairy  than  others,  espe- 
cially on  the  male  side ;  but  it  must  not  be  assumed  that 
the  more  hairy  races,  for  instance  Europeans,  have  re- 
tained a  primordial  condition  more  completely  than  have 
the  naked  races,  such  as  the  Calmucks  or  Americans.  It 
is  a  more  probable  view  that  the  hairiness  of  the  former 
is  due  to  partial  reversion,  for  characters  which  have  long 
been  inherited  are  always  apt  to  return.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  a  cold  climate  has  been  influential  in  leading  to 
this  kind  of  reversion ;  excepting  perhaps  with  the  ne- 
groes, who  have  been  reared  during  several  generations, 
in  the  United  States,"  and  possibly  with  the  Ainos,  who 

2"  '  The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,'  vol.  ii. 
1868,  p.  327. 

**  'Investigations  into  Military  and  Anthropological  Statistics  of 
American  Soldiers,'  by  B.  A.  Gould,  1869  ;  p.  568 :  Observations  were 
carefully  made  on  the  pilosity  of  2,129  black  and  colored  soldiers,  while 
they  were  bathing  ;  and,  by  looking  to  the  published  table,  "  it  is  mani- 
fest at  a  glance  that  there  is  but  little,  if  any,  difference  between  the 
white  and  the  black  races  in  this  respect."  It  is,  however,  certain  that 
negroes  in  their  native  and  much  hotter  land  of  Africa,  have  remarkably 
35 


302  SEXUAL  SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

inhabit  the  nortlicrn  islands  of  the  Japan  archipelago. 
But  the  laws  of  inheritance  are  so  complex  that  we  can 
seldom  understand  their  action.  If  the  greater  hairiness 
of  certain  races  he  the  result  of  reversion,  unchecked  by 
any  form  of  selection,  the  extreme  variability  of  this  char- 
acter, even  within  the  limits  of  the  same  race,  ceases  to  be 
remarkable. 

With  respect  to  the  beard,  if  we  turn  to  our  best 
guide,  namely  the  Quadrumana,  we  find  beards  equally 
well  developed  in  both  sexes  of  many  species,  but  in 
others,  either  confined  to  the  males,  or  more  developed 
in  them  than  in  the  females.  From  this  fact,  and  from 
the  curious  arrangement,  as  well  as  the  bright  colors,  of 
the  hair  about  the  heads  of  many  monkeys,  it  is  highly 
probable,  as  before  explained,  that  the  males  first  ac- 
quired their  beards  as  an  ornament  through  sexual  selec- 
tion, transmitting  them  in  most  cases,  in  an  equal  or  near- 
ly equal  degree,  to  their  offspring  of  both  sexes.  We 
know  from  Eschricht "  that,  with  mankind,  the  female  as 
well  as  the  male  foetus  is  furnished  with  much  hair  on  the 
face,  especially  round  the  mouth  ;  and  this  indicates  that 
we  are  descended  from  a  progenitor  of  which  both  sexes 
were  bearded.  It  appears  therefore  at  first  sight  prob- 
able that  man  has  retained  his  beard  from  a  very  early 
period,  while  woman  lost  her  beard  at  the  same  time 
when  her  body  became  almost  completely  divested  of 
hair.     Even  the  color  of  the  beard  with  mankind  seems  to 

smootli  bodies.  It  should  be  particularly  observed  that  pure  blacks 
and  mulattoes  were  included  in  the  above  enumeration ;  and  this  is  an 
unfortunate  circumstance,  as  in  accordance  with  the  principle,  the  truth 
o*"  which  I  have  elsewhere  proved,  crossed  races  would  be  eminently 
liable  to  revert  to  the  primordial  hairy  character  of  their  early  ape-like 
progenitors. 

**  "  Ueber  die  Richtung  dcr  Haare  am  Menschlichen  Ktirper,"  in 
Miiller's  '  Archiv  fiir  Anat.  und  Phys.'  1837,  s.  40. 


Chap.  XX.]  BEARDS.  363 

have  been  inherited  from  an  ape-like  progenitor;  for  when 
there  is  any  diiference  in  tint  between  the  hair  of  the  head 
and  the  beard,  the  latter  is  lighter  colored  in  all  monkeys 
and  in  man.  There  is  less  improbability  in  <;he  men  of 
the  bearded  races  having  retained  their  beards  from  pri- 
mordial times,  than  in  the  case  of  the  hair  on  the  body  ; 
for  with  those  Quadrumana,  in  which  the  male  has  a 
larger  beard  than  that  of  the  female,  it  is  fully  developed 
only  at  maturity,  and  the  later  stages  of  development 
may  have  been  exclusively  transmitted  to  mankind.  We 
should  then  see  what  is  actually  the  case,  namely,  our 
male  children,  before  they  arrive  at  maturity,  as  destitute 
of  beards  as  are  our  female  children.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  great  variability  of  the  beard  within  the  limits  of  the 
same  race  and  in  different  races  indicates  that  reversion 
has  come  into  action.  However  this  may  be,  we  must 
not  overlook  the  part  which  sexual  selection  may  have 
played  even  during  later  times ;  for  we  know  that,  with 
savages,  the  men  of  the  beardless  races  take  infinite  pains 
in  eradicating  every  hair  from  their  faces,  as  something 
odious,  while  the  men  of  the  bearded  races  feel  the 
greatest  pride  in  their  beards.  The  women,  no  doubt, 
participate  in  these  feelings,  and  if  so  sexual  selection  can 
hardly  have  failed  to  have  effected  something  in  the 
course  of  later  times.''^ 

^'  Mr.  Sproat  ('  Scenes  and  Studies  of  Savage  Life,'  1868,  p.  25)  sug- 
gests, with  reference  to  the  beardless  natives  of  Vancouver's  Island,  that 
the  custom  of  plucking  out  the  hairs  on  the  face,  "  continued  from  one 
generation  to  another,  would  perhaps  at  last  produce  a  race  distinguish 
able  by  a  thin  and  straggling  growth  of  beard."  But  the  custom  would 
not  have  arisen  until  the  beard  had  already  become,  from  some  inde- 
pendent cause,  greatly,  reduced.  Nor  have  we  any  direct  evidence  that 
the  continued  eradication  of  the  hair  would  lead  to  any  inherited  effect. 
Owing  to  this  cause  of  doubt,  I  have  not  hitherto  alluded  to  the  belief 
held  by  some  distinguished  ethnologists,  for  instance  M.  Gosse  of  Gene- 
va, that  artificial  modifications  of  the  skull  tend  to  be  inherited.     I  have 


304  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  H. 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  form  a  judgment  how  the  long 
hair  on  our  heads  became  developed.  Eschricht  "*  states 
that  in  the  human  fa»tus  the  hair  on  the  face  during  the 
fifth  month  is  longer  than  that  on  the  head ;  and  this  in- 
dicates that  our  semi-human  progenitors  were  not  fur- 
nished with  long  tresses,  which  consequently  must  have 
been  a  late  acquisition.  This  is  likewise  indicated  by  the 
extraordinary  difference  in  the  length  of  the  hair  in  the 
different  races ;  in  the  negro  the  hair  forms  a  mere  curly 
mat ;  with  us  it  is  of  great  length,  and  with  the  American 
natives  it  not  rarely  reaches  to  the  ground.  Some  species 
of  Semnopithecus  have  their  heads  covered  with  moder- 
ately long  hair,  and  this  probably  serves  as  an  ornament 
and  was  acquired  through  sexual  selection.  The  same 
view  may  be  extended  to  mankind,  for  we  know  that  long 
tresses  are  now  and  were  formerly  much  admired,  as  may 
be  observed  in  the  works  of  almost  every  poet ;  St.  Paul 
says,  "  If  a  woman  have  long  hair,  it  is  a  glory  to  her  ;  " 
and  we  have  seen  that  in  North  America  a  chief  was 
elected  solely  from  the  length  of  his  hair. 

Color  of  the  Skin. — The  best  kind  of  evidence  that 
the  color  of  the  skin  has  been  modified  through  sexual 
selection  is  wanting  in  the  case  of  mankind  ;  for  the  sexes 
do  not  difter  in  tliis  respect,  or  only  slightly  and  doubt- 
fully. On  the  other  hand,  we  know  from  many  facts  al- 
ready given  that  the  color  of  the  skin  is  regarded  by  the 
men  of  all  races  as  a  highly-important  element  in  their 
beauty ;  so  that  it  is  a  character  which  would  be  likely  to 
be  modified  through  selection,  as  has  occurred  in  innumer- 

no  wish  to  dispute  this  conclusion ;  and  we  now  know  from  Dr.  Brown- 
Sequard's  remarkable  observations,  especially  those  recently  communi- 
cated (1870)  to  the  British  Association,  that  with  guinea-pigs  the  effects 
of  oi^erations  are  inherited. 

"  'Uebcr  die  UiclitunK,'  ibid.  s.  40. 


Chap.  XX.]  SUMMARY.  365 

able  instances  with  the  lower  animals.  It  seems  at  first 
sight  a  monstrous  supposition  that  the  jet  blackness  of 
the  negro  has  been  gained  through  sexual  selection ;  but 
this  view  is  supported  by  various  analogies,  and  we  know 
that  negroes  admire  their  own  blackness.  With  mam- 
mals, when  the  sexes  difter  in  color,  the  male  is  often 
black  or  much  darker  than  the  female ;  and  it  depends 
merely  on  the  form  of  inheritance  whether  this  or  any 
other  tint  shall  be  transmitted  to  both  sexes  or  to  one 
alone.  The  resemblance  of  Pithecia  satanas  with  his  jet- 
black  skin,  white  rolling  eyeballs,  and  hair  parted  on  the 
top  of  the  head,  to  a  negro  in  miniature,  is  almost  ludi- 
crous. 

The  color  of  the  face  differs  much  more  widely  in  the 
various  kinds  of  monkeys  than  it  does  in  the  races  of 
man ;  and  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  red, 
blue,  orange,  almost  white  and  black  tints  of  their  skin, 
even  when  common  to  both  sexes,  and  the  bright  colors 
of  their  fur,  as  well  as  the  ornamental  tufts  of  hair  about 
the  head,  have  all  been  acquired  tlirough  sexual  selection. 
As  the  newly-born  infants  of  the  most  distinct  races  do 
not  differ  nearly  as  much  in  color  as  do  the  adults,  al- 
though their  bodies  are  completely  destitute  of  hair,  we 
have  some  slight  indication  that  the  tints  of  the  different 
races  were  acquired  subsequently  to  the  removal  of  the 
hair,  which,  as  before  stated,  must  have  occurred  at  a 
very  early  period. 

Summary. — We  may  conclude  that  the  greater  size, 
strength,  courage,  pugnacity,  and  even  energy  of  man,  in 
comparison  with  the  same  qualities  in  woman,  were  ac- 
quired during  primeval  times,  and  have  subsequently  been 
augmented,  chiefly  through  the  contests  of  rival  males  for 
the  possession  of  the  females.  The  greater  intellectual 
vigor  and  power  of  invention  in  man  are  probably  due  to 


3G6  SEXUAL   SELECTION:   MAN.  [Part  IL 

natural  selection  combined  with  the  inherited  effects  of 
hahit,  for  the  most  able  men  will  have  succeeded  best  in 
defending  and  providing  for  tliemselves,  their  wives  and 
oflsj)ring.  As  far  as  the  extreme  intricacy  of  the  subject 
permits  us  to  judge,  it  appears  that  our  male  ape-like  pro- 
genitors acquired  their  beards  as  an  ornament  to  charm  or 
excite  the  opposite  sex,  and  transmitted  them  to  man  as 
he  now  exists.  The  females  apparently  were  first  de- 
nuded of  hair  in  like  manner  as  a  sexual  ornament ;  but 
they  transmitted  this  character  almost  equally  to  both 
sexes.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  females  were  modi- 
fied in  other  respects  for  the  same  purpose  and  through 
the  same  means ;  so  that  women  have  acquired  sweeter 
voices  and  become  more  beautiful  than  men. 

It  deserves  particular  attention  that  with  mankind  all 
the  conditions  for  sexual  selection  were  much  more  favor- 
able, during  a  very  early  period,  when  man  had  only  just 
attained  to  the  rank  of  manhood,  than  during  later  times. 
For  he  w^ould  then,  as  we  may  safely  conclude,  have  been 
guided  more  by  his  instinctive  passions,  and  less  by  fore- 
sight or  reason.  He  would  not  then  have  been  so  utterly 
licentious  as  many  savages  now  are ;  and  each  male  woukl 
have  jealously  guarded  his  wife  or  wives.  lie  would  not 
then  have  practised  infanticide ;  nor  valued  his  wives 
merely  as  useful  slaves  ;  nor  have  been  betrothed  to  them 
during  infancy.  Hence  we  may  infer  that  the  races  of 
men  were  differentiated,  as  far  as  sexual  selection  is  con- 
cerned, in  chief  part  during  a  very  remote  epoch ;  and 
this  conclusion  throws  light  on  the  remarkable  fact  tliat 
at  the  most  ancient  period,  of  which  we  liave  as  yet  ob- 
tained any  record,  the  races  of  man  had  already  come  to 
differ  nearly  or  quite  as  much  as  they  do  at  the  present 
day. 

The  views  here  advanced,  on  the  part  which  sexual 
Belection  has  played  in  the  history  of  man,  want  scien- 


Chap.  XX.J  SUMMARY.  367 

tific  precision.  He  who  does  not  admit  this  agency  in 
the  case  of  the  lower  animals,  will  properly  disregard  all 
that  I  have  written  in  the  later  chapters  on  man.  We 
cannot  positively  say  that  this  character,  but  not  that, 
has  been  thus  modified ;  it  has,  however,  been  shown  that 
the  races  of  man  differ  from  each  other  and  from  their 
nearest  allies  among  the  lower  animals,  in  certain  charac- 
ters which  are  of  no  service  to  them  in  their  ordinary 
habits  of  life,  and  which  it  is  extremely  probable  would 
have  been  modified  through  sexual  selection.  We  have 
seen  that  with  the  lowest  savages  the  people  of  each  tribe 
admire  their  own  characteristic  qualities — the  shape  of  the 
head  and  face,  the  squareness  of  the  cheek-bones,  the 
prominence  or  depression  of  the  nose,  the  color  of  the 
skin,  the  length  of  the  hair  on  the  head,  the  absence  of 
hair  on  the  face  and  body,  or  the  presence  of  a  great 
beard,  etc.  Hence  these  and  other  such  points  could 
hardly  fail  to  have  been  slowly  and  gradually  exagger- 
ated from  the  more  powerful  and  able  men  in  each  tribe, 
who  would  succeed  in  rearino-  the  largest  number  of  off- 
spring,  having  selected  during  many  generations  as  their 
wives  the  most  strongly-characterized  and  therefore  most 
attractive  women.  For  my  own  part  I  conclude  that  of 
all  the  causes  which  have  led  to  the  differences  in  exter- 
nal appearance  between  the  races  of  man,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  between  man  and  the  lower  animals,  sexual  selec- 
tion has  been  by  far  the  most  efficient. 


3G8  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [I-aut  II. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

General  Summary  and  Conclusion. 

Main  Conclusion  that  Man  is  descended  from  some  Lower  Form. — Man- 
ner of  Development. — Genealogy  of  Man. — Intellectual  and  Moral 
Faculties. — Sexual  Selection. — Concluding  Remarks. 

A  BRIEF  summary  will  here  be  sufficient  to  recall  to 
the  reader's  mind  the  more  salient  points  in  this  work. 
Many  of  the  views  which  have  been  advanced  are  highly 
speculative,  and  some  no  doubt  will  prove  erroneous  ;  but 
I  have  in  every  case  given  the  reasons  which  have  led  me 
to  one  view  rather  than  to  another.  It  seemed  worth 
while  to  try  how  far  the  principle  of  evolution  would 
throw  light  on  some  of  the  more  complex  problems  in  the 
natural  history  of  man.  False  facts  are  highly  injurious 
to  the  progress  of  science,  for  they  often  long  endure ; 
but  false  views,  if  supported  by  some  evidence,  do  little 
harm,  as  every  one  takes  a  salutary  pleasure  in  proving 
their  falseness ;  and  when  this  is  done,  one  path  toward 
error  is  closed,  and  the  road  to  truth  is  often  at  the  same 
time  opened. 

The  main  conclusion  arrived  at  in  this  work,  and  now 
held  by  many  naturalists  who  are  well  competent  to  form 
a  sound  judgment,  is  that  man  is  descended  from  some 
less  highly-organized  form.  The  grounds  upon  \Yhich  this 
conclusion  rests  will  never  be  shaken,  for  the  close  simi- 
larity between  man  and  the  lower  animals  in  embryonic 
development,  as  well  as  in  innumerable  points  of  structure 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  369 

and  constitution,  both  of  high  and  of  the  most  trifling  im- 
portance— the  rudiments  which  he  retains,  and  the  abnor- 
mal reversions  to  which  he  is  occasionally  liable — are  facts 
which  cannot  be  disputed.  They  have  long  been  known, 
but  until  recently  they  told  lis  nothing  with  respect  to 
the  origin  of  man.  Now,  when  viewed  by  the  light  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  whole  organic  Avorld,  their  meaning 
is  unmistakable.  The  great  principle  of  evolution  stands 
up  clear  and  firm,  when  these  groups  of  facts  are  consid- 
ered in  connection  with  others,  such  as  the  mutual  afiini- 
ties  of  the  members  of  the  same  group,  their  geographical 
distribution  in  past  and  present  times,  and  their  geological 
succession.  It  is  incredible  that  all  these  facts  should 
speak  falsely.  He  who  is  not  content  to  look,  like  a  sav- 
age, at  the  phenomena  of  Nature  as  disconnected,  cannot 
any  longer  believe  that  man  is  the  work  of  a  separate  act 
of  creation.  He  will  be  forced  to  admit  that  the  close  re- 
semblance of  the  embryo  of  man  to  that,  for  instance,  of 
a  dog — the  construction  of  his  skull,  limbs,  and  whole 
frame,  independently  of  the  uses  to  which  the  parts  may 
be  put,  on  the  same  plan  with  that  of  other  mammals — 
the  occasional  reappearance  of  various  structures,  for  in- 
stance, of  several  distinct  muscles,  which  man  does  not 
normally  possess,  but  w^hich  are  common  to  the  Quadru- 
mana — and  a  crowd  of  analogous  facts — all  point  in  the 
plainest  manner  to  the  conclusion  that  man  is  the  co-de- 
scendant with  other  mammals  of  a  common  progenitor. 

We  have  seen  that  man  incessantly  presents  individual 
differences  in  all  parts  of  his  body  and  in  his  mental  facul- 
ties. These  differences  or  variations  seem  to  be  induced 
by  the  same  general  causes,  and  to  obey  the  same  laws  as 
with  the  lower  animals.  In  both  cases  similar  laws  of 
inheritance  prevail.  Man  tends  to  increase  at  a  greater 
rate  than  his  means  of  subsistence;  consequently  he  is 
occasionally  subjected  to  a  severe  struggle  for  existence, 


370  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [Part  H. 

and  natural  selection  will  have  effected  whatever  lies  with- 
in its  scope.  A  succession  of  strongly-marked  variations 
of  a  similar  nature  arc  by  no  means  requisite;  slight 
fluctuating  ditfcrences  in  the  individual  suflice  for  the 
work  of  natural  selection.  We  may  feel  assured  that  the 
inherited  effects  of  the  long-continued  use  or  disuse  of 
parts  will  have  done  much  in  the  same  direction  with 
natural  selection.  Modifications  formerly  of  importance, 
though  no  longer  of  any  special  use,  will  be  long  inher- 
ited. When  one  part  is  modified,  other  parts  will  change 
through  the  principle  of  correlation,  of  which  we  have  in- 
stances in  many  cm-ious  cases  of  correlated  monstrosities. 
Something  may  be  attributed  to  the  direct  and  definite 
action  of  the  surrounding  conditions  of  life,  such  as  abun- 
dant food,  heat,  or  moisture  ;  and  lastly,  many  characters 
of  slight  physiological  importance,  some  indeed  of  con- 
siderable importance,  have  been  gained  through  sexual 
selection. 

No  doubt  man,  as  well  as  every  other  animal,  presents 
structures  which,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  with  our  little 
knowledge,  are  not  now  of  any  service  to  him,  nor  have 
been  so  during  any  former  period  of  his  existence,  either 
in  relation  to  his  general  conditions  of  life,  or  of  one  sex 
to  the  other.  Such  structures  cannot  be  accounted  for 
by  any  form  of  selection,  or  by  the  inherited  effects  of  the 
use  and  disuse  of  parts.  We  know,  however,  that  many 
strange  and  strongly -marked  peculiarities  of  structure 
occasionally  appear  in  our  domesticated  productions,  and 
if  the  unknown  causes  which  produce  them  were  to  act 
more  uniformly,  they  would  probably  become  common  to 
all  the  individuals  of  the  species.  We  may  hope  hereafter 
to  understand  something  about  the  causes  of  such  occa- 
sional modifications,  especially  through  the  study  of  mon- 
strosities :  hence  the  labors  of  experimentalists,  such  as 
those  of  M.  Camille  Dareste,  are  full  of  promise  for  the 


Chap.  XXL]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  37I 

future.  In  the  greater  number  of  cases,  we  can  only  say 
that  the  cause  of  each  slight  variation  and  of  each  mon- 
strosity lies  much  more  in  the  nature  or  constitution  of 
the  organism,  than  in  the  nature  of  the  surrounding  con- 
ditions ;  though  new  and  changed  conditions  certainly 
play  an  important  part  in  exciting  organic  changes  of  all 
kinds. 

Through  the  means  just  specified,  aided  perhaps  by 
others  as  yet  undiscovered,  man  has  been  raised  to  his 
present  state.  But  since  he  attained  to  the  rank  of  man- 
hood, he  has  diverged  into  distinct  races,  or,  as  they  may 
be  more  appropriately  called,  subspecies.  Some  of  these, 
for  instance,  the  Negro  and  European,  are  so  distinct  that, 
if  specimens  had  been  brought  to  a  naturalist  without  any 
further  information,  they  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
considered  by  him  as  good  and  true  species.  Neverthe- 
less all  the  races  agree  in  so  many  unimportant  details  of 
structure  and  in  so  many  mental  peculiarities,  that  these 
can  be  accounted  for  only  through  inheritance  from  a  com- 
mon progenitor ;  and  a  progenitor  thus  characterized 
would  probably  have  deserved  to  rank  as  man. 

It  must  not  "be  supposed  that  the  divergence  of  each 
race  from  the  other  races,  and  of  all  the  races  from  a  com- 
mon stock,  can  be  traced  back  to  any  one  pair  of  progeni- 
tors. On  the  contrary,  at  every  stage  in  the  process  of 
modification,  all  the  individuals  which  were  in  any  way 
best  fitted  for  their  conditions  of  life,  though  in  different 
degrees,  would  have  survived  in  greater  numbers  than  the 
less  well  fitted.  The  process  would  have  been  like  that 
followed  by  man,  when  he  does  not  intentionally  select 
particular  individuals,  but  breeds  from  all  the  superior 
and  neglects  all  the  inferior  individuals.  He  thus  slowly 
but  surely  modifies  his  stock,  and  unconsciously  forms  a 
new  strain.  So  with  respect  to  modifications,  acquired 
independently  of.  selection,  and  due  to  variations  arising 


372  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

from  the  nature  of  the  organism  and  tlie  action  of  the  sur- 
rounding conditions,  or  from  clianged  habits  of  life,  no 
single  i)air  will  have  been  modified  in  a  much  greater  de- 
gree than  the  other  pairs  which  inhabit  the  same  country, 
for  all  will  have  been  continually  blended  through  free 
intercrossing. 

I>y  considering  the  embryological  structure  of  man — 
the  homologies  which  he  presents  with  the  lower  animals 
— the  rudiments  which  he  retains — and  the  reversions  to 
which  he  is  liable,  we  can  partly  recall  in  imagination  the 
fomier  condition  of  our  early  progenitors  ;  and  can  ap- 
proximately place  them  in  their  proper  position  in  the 
zoological  series.  We  thus  learn  that  man  is  descended 
from  a  hairy  quadruped,  furnished  with  a  tail  and  pointed 
ears,  probably  aboreal  in  its  habits,  and  an  inhabitant  of 
the  Old  World.  This  creature,  if  its  whole  structure  had 
been  examined  by  a  naturalist,  would  have  been  classed 
among  the  Quadruniana,  as  surely  as  would  the  common 
and  still  more  ancient  progenitor  of  the  Old  and  New 
World  monkeys.  The  Qnadrumana  and  all  the  higher 
mammals  nre  probably  derived  from  an  ancient  marsupial 
animal,  and  this  through  a  long  line  of  diversified  forms, 
either  from  some  reptile-like  or  some  amphibian-like  crea- 
ture, and  this  again  from  some  fish-like  animal.  In  the 
dim  obscurity  of  the  jiast  we  can  see  that  the  early  pro- 
genitor of  all  the  Vertebrata  must  have  been  an  aquatic 
animal,  provided  with  branchiae,  with  the  two  sexes  united 
in  the  same  individual,  and  with  the  most  important 
organs  of  the  body  (such  as  the  brain  and  heart)  imper- 
fectly developed.  This  animal  seems  to  have  been  more 
like  the  larvie  of  our  existing  marine  Ascidians  than  any 
other  known  form. 

Tlio  greatest  difficulty  wliich  presents  itself,  when  we 
are  driven  to  the  above  conclusion  on  the  origin  of  man, 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  373 

is  the  high  standard  of  intellectual  power  and  of  moral 
disposition  which  he  has  attained.  But  every  one  who 
admits  the  general  principle  of  evolution,  must  see  that 
the  mental  powers  of  the  higher  animals,  which  are  the 
same  in  kind  with  those  of  mankind,  though  so  different 
in  degree,  are  capable  of  advancement.  Thus  the  interval 
between  the  mental  powers  of  one  of  the  higher  apes  and 
of  a  fish,  or  between  those  of  an  ant  and  scale-insect,  is 
immense.  The  development  of  these  powers  in  animals 
does  not  offer  any  special  difficulty ;  for  with  our  domesti- 
cated animals,  the  mental  faculties  are  certainly  variable, 
and  the  variations  are  inherited.  No  one  doubts  that 
these  faculties  are  of  the  utmost  importance  to  animals  in 
a  state  of  nature.  Therefore  the  conditions  are  favorable 
for  their  development  through  natural  selection.  The 
same  ccmclusion  may  be  extended  to  man  ;  the  intellect 
must  have  been  all-important  to  him,  even  at  a  very 
remote  period,  enabling  him  to  use  language,  to  invent 
and  make  weapons,  tools,  traps,  etc. ;  by  which  means,  in 
combination  with  his  social  habits,  he  long  ago  became 
the  most  dominant  of  all  living  creatures. 

A  great  stride  in  the  development  of  the  intellect  will 
have  followed,  as  soon  as,  through  a  previous  considerable 
advance,  the  half-art  and  half-instinct  of  language  came 
into  use  ;  for  the  continued  use  of  language  will  have  re- 
acted on  the  brain,  and  produced  an  inherited  effect ;  and 
this  again  will  have  reacted  on  the  improvement  of  lan- 
guage. The  large  size  of  the  brain  in  man,  in  comparison 
with  that  of  the  lower  animals,  relatively  to  the  size  of 
their  bodies,  may  be  attributed  in  chief  part,  as  Mr. 
Chauncey  Wright  has  well  remarked,'  to  the  early  use  of 
some  simple  form  of  language — that  wondei-ful  engine 
which  affixes  signs  to  all  sorts  of  objects  and  qualities, 

1  On  the  "  Limits  of  Natural  Selection,"  in  the  '  North  American  Re- 
view,' Oct.  1870,  p.  295. 


374  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

and  excites  trains  of  ihouglit  which  would  never  arise 
from  the  mere  impression  of  the  senses,  and  if  they  did 
arise  could  not  be  followed  out.  The  higher  intellectual 
powers  of  man,  such  as  those  of  ratiocination,  abstraction, 
self-consciousness,  etc.,  will  have  followed  from  the  con- 
tinued improvement  of  other  mental  faculties  ;  but  with- 
out considerable  culture  of  the  mind,  both  in  the  race  and 
in  the  individual,  it  is  doubtful  whether  these  high  powers 
would  be  exercised,  and  thus  fully  attained. 

The  development  of  the  moral  qualities  is  a  more  in- 
teresting and  difficult  problem.  Their  foundation  lies  in 
the  social  instincts,  including  in  this  term  the  family  ties. 
These  instincts  are  of  a  highly-complex  nature,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  lower  animals  give  special  tendencies  toward 
certain  definite  actions ;  but  the  more  important  elements 
for  us  are  love,  and  the  distinct  emotion  of  sympathy. 
Animals  endowed  with  the  social  instincts  take  pleasure 
in  each  other's  company,  warn  each  other  of  danger,  de- 
fend and  aid  each  other  in  many  ways.  These  instincts 
are  not  extended  to  all  the  individuals  of  the  species,  but 
only  to  those  of  the  same  community.  As  thej'  are  high- 
ly beneficial  to  the  species,  they  have  in  all  probability 
been  acquired  through  natural  selection. 

A  moral  being  is  one  who  is  capable  of  comparing  his 
past  and  future  actions  and  motives — of  approving  of 
some  and  disapproving  of  others  ;  and  the  fact  that  man 
is  the  one  being  who  with  certainty  can  be  thus  desig- 
nated makes  the  greatest  of  all  distinctions  between  him 
and  the  lower  animals.  But  in  our  third  chapter  I  have 
endeavored  to  show  that  the  moral  sense  follows,  firstly, 
from  the  enduring  and  always  present  nature  of  the 
social  instincts,  in  which  respect  man  agrees  with  the 
lower  animals;  and  secondly,  from  his  mental  faculties 
being  highly  active  arid  his  imju'essions  of  past  events 
extremely  vivid,  in  which  respects   he   differs  from   the 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  375 

lower  animals.  Owing  to  this  condition  of  mind,  man 
cannot  avoid  looking  backward  and  comparing  the  im- 
pressions of  past  events  and  actions.  He  also  continually 
looks  forward.  Hence  after  some  temporary  desire  or- 
passion  has  mastered  his  social  instincts,  he  will  reflect 
and  compare  the  now  weakened  impression  of  such  past 
impulses  with  the  ever-present  social  instinct ;  and  he 
will  then  feel  that  sense  of  dissatisfaction  which  all  unsat- 
isfied instincts  leave  behind  them.  Consequently  he  re- 
solves to  act  differently  for  the  future — and  this  is  con- 
science. Any  instinct  which  is  permanently  stronger  or 
more  enduring  than  another,  gives  rise  to  a  feeling  which 
we  express  by  saying  that  it  ought  to  be  obeyed.  A 
pointer  dog,  if  able  to  reflect  on  his  past  conduct,  would 
say  to  himself,  I  ought  (as  indeed  we  say  of  him)  to  have 
pointed  at  that  hare,  and  not  have  yielded  to  the  passing 
temptation  of  himting  it. 

Social  animals  are  partly  impelled  by  a  wish  to  aid  the 
membei's  of  the  same  community  in  a  general  manner, 
but  more  commonly  to  perform  certain  definite  actions. 
Man  is  impelled  by  the  same  general  wish  to  aid  his 
fellows,  but  has  few  or  no  special  instincts.  He  differs 
also  from  the  lower  animals  in  being  able  to  express  his 
desires  by  words,  which  thus  become  the  guide  to  the  aid 
required  and  bestowed.  The  motive  to  give  aid  is  like- 
wise somewhat  modified  in  man  :  it  no  longer  consists 
solely  of  a  blind  instinctive  impulse,  but  is  largely  influ- 
enced by  the  praise  or  blame  of  his  fellow-men.  Both 
the  appreciation  and  the  bestowal  of  praise  and  blame 
rest  on  sympathy  ;  and  this  emotion,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
one  of  the  most  important  elements  of  the  social  instincts. 
Sympathy,  though  gained  as  an  instinct,  is  also  much 
strengthened  by  exercise  or  habit.  As  all  men  desire 
their  own  happiness,  praise  or  blame  is  bestowed  on 
actions  and  motives,  according  as  they  lead  to  this  end ; 


376  GENERAL   SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

and,  as  liappincss  is  an  essential  part  of  the  general  good, 
the  greatest-happiness  principle  indirectly  serves  as  a 
nearly  safe  standard  of  right  and  wrong.  As  the  reason- 
ing powers  advance  and  experience  is  gained,  the  more 
remote  effects  of  certain  lines  of  conduct  on  the  character 
of  the  individual,  and  on  the  general  good,  are  perceived; 
and  then  the  self-regarding  virtues,  from  coming  within 
the  scope  of  public  opinion,  receive  praise,  and  their 
opposites  receive  blame.  But  with  the  less  civilized 
nations  reason  often  errs,  and  many  bad  customs  and  base 
superstitions  come  within  the  same  scope,  and  consequent- 
ly are  esteemed  as  high  virtues,  and  their  breach  as  heavy 
crimes. 

The  moral  fticulties  are  generally  esteemed,  and  with 
justice,  as  of  higher  value  than  the  intellectual  powers. 
But  we  should  always  bear  in  mind  that  the  activity  of 
the  mind  in  vividly  recalling  past  impressions  is  one  of 
the  fundamental  though  secondary  bases  of  conscience. 
This  fact  affords  the  strongest  argument  for  educating 
and  stimulating  in  all  possible  ways  the  intellectual  fac- 
ulties of  every  human  being.  No  doubt  a  man  with  a 
torpid  mind,  if  his  social  affections  and  sympathies  are 
well  developed,  will  be  led  to  good  actions,  and  may  have 
a  fairly  sensitive  conscience.  But  whatever  renders  the 
imagination  of  men  more  vivid  and  strengthens  the  habit 
of  recalling  and  comparing  jiast  impressions,  will  make 
the  conscience  more  sensitive,  and  may  even  compensate 
to  a  certain  extent  for  weak  social  affections  and  sym- 
pathies. 

The  moral  nature  of  man  has  reached  the  highest 
standard  as  yet  .attained,  partly  through  the  advance- 
ment of  the  reasoning  powers  and  consequently  of  a  just 
])ublic  opinion,  but  especially  through  the  sympathies 
being  rendered  more  tender  and  widely  diffused  tlirough 
the  effects  of  habit,  example,  instruction,  and  reflection. 


CuAP.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING  REMARKS.  377 

It  is  not  improbable  that  virtuous  tendencies  may  through 
long  practice  be  inherited.  With  the  more  civilized  races, 
the  conviction  of  the  existence  of  an  all-seeing  Deity  has 
had  a  potent  influence  on  the  advancement  of  morality. 
Ultimately  man  no  longer  accepts  the  praise  or  blame  of 
his  fellows  as  his  chief  guide,  though  few  escape  this  influ- 
ence, but  his  habitual  convictions  controlled  by  reason 
afibrd  him  the  safest  rule.  His  conscience  then  becomes 
his  supreme  judge  and  monitor.  Nevertheless  the  first 
foundation  or  origin  of  the  moral  sense  lies  in  the  social 
instincts,  including  sympathy ;  and  these  instincts  no 
doubt  were  primarily  gained,  as  in  the  case  of  the  lower 
animals,  through  natural  selection. 

The  belief  in  God  has  often  been  advanced  as  not  only 
the  greatest,  but  the  most  complete,  of  all  the  distinctions 
between  man  and  the  lower  animals.  It  is,  however,  im- 
possible, as  we  have  seen,  to  maintain  that  this  belief  is 
innate  or  instinctive  in  man.  On  the  other  hand,  a  belief 
in  all-pervading  spiritual  agencies  seems  to  be  universal ; 
and  apparently  follows  from  a  considerable  advance  in  the 
reasoning  powers  of  man,  and  from  a  still  greater  advance 
in  his  faculties  of  imagination,  curiosity,  and  wonder.  I 
am  aware  that  the  assumed  instinctive  belief  in  God  has 
been  used  by  many  persons  as  an  argument  for  His  exist- 
ence. But  this  is  a  rash  argument,  as  we  should  thus  be 
compelled  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  many  cruel  and 
malignant  spirits,  possessing  only  a  little  more  power 
than  man  ;  for  the  belief  in  them  is  far  more  general  than 
of  a  beneficent  Deity.  The  idea  of  a  universal  and  benefi- 
cent Creator  of  the  universe  does  not  seem  to  arise  in  the 
mind  of  man,  until  he  has  been  elevated  by  long-continued 
culture. 

He  who  believes  in  the  advancement  of  man  from  some 
lowly-organized  form,  will  naturally  ask,  "  How  does  this 


378  GENERAL   SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

bear  on  llie  belief  iu  the  immortality  of  the  soul?"  The 
barbarous  races  of  man,  as  Sir  J.  Lubbock  has  shown, 
possess  no  clear  belief  of  this  kind ;  but  arguments  de- 
rived from  the  primeval  beliefs  of  savages  are,  as  we  have 
just  seen,  of  little  or  no  avail.  Few  persons  feel  any 
anxiety  from  the  impossibility  of  determining  at  what 
precise  period  in  the  development  of  the  individual,  from 
the  first  trace  of  the  minute  germinal  vesicle  to  the  child 
either  before  or  after  birth,  man  becomes  an  immortal 
being ;  and  there  is  no  greater  cause  for  anxiety  because 
the  period  in  the  gradually-ascending  organic  scale  cannot 
possibly  be  determined.* 

I  am  aware  that  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in  this  work 
will  be  denounced  by  some  as  highly  irreligious ;  but  he 
w^ho  thns  denounces  them  is  bound  to  show  why  it  is 
more  irreligious  to  explain  the  origin  of  man  as  a  distinct 
species  by  descent  from  some  lower  form,  through  the 
laws  of  variation  and  natural  selection,  than  to  explain 
the  birth  of  the  individual  through  the  laws  of  ordinary 
reproduction.  The  birth  both  of  the  species  and  of  the 
individual  are  equally  parts  of  that  grand  sequence  of 
events,  Avhich  our  minds  refuse  to  accept  as  the  result  of 
blind  chance.  The  understanding  revolts  at  such  a  con- 
clusion, whether  or  not  we  are  able  to  believe  that  every 
slight  variation  of  structure,  the  union  of  each  pair  in 
marriage,  the  dissemination  of  each  seed,  and  other  such 
events,  have  all  been  ordained  for  some  special  purpose. 

Sexual  selection  has  been  treated  at  great  length  in 
these  volumes ;  for,  as  I  have  attempted  to  show,  it  has 
played  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  the  organic 
world.  As  summaries  have  been  given  to  each  chaj)ter, 
it  would  be  superfluous  here  to  add  a  detailed  summary. 

'  The  Rev.  J.  A.  Picton  gives  a  discussion  to  this  effect  iu  his  '  New 
Theories  aud  the  Old  Faith,'  1870. 


Chap.  XXL]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  379 

I  am  aware  that  much  remains  doubtful,  but  I  have 
endeavored  to  give  a  fair  view  of  the  whole  case.  In  the 
lower  divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom,  sexual  selection 
seems  to  have  done  nothing :  such  animals  are  often 
affixed  for  life  to  the  same  spot,  or  have  the  two  sexes 
combined  in  the  same  individual,  or,  what  is  still  more  im- 
portant, their  perceptive  and  intellectual  faculties  are  not 
sufficiently  advanced  to  allow  of  the  feelings  of  love  and 
jealousy,  or  of  the  exertion  of  choice.  When,  however, 
we  come  to  the  Arthropoda  and  Vertebrata,  even  to  the 
lowest  classes  in  these  two  great  sub-kingdoms,  sexual 
selection  has  effected  much ;  and  it  deserves  notice  that 
we  here  find  the  intellectual  faculties  developed,  but  in 
two  very  distinct  lines,  to  the  highest  standard,  namely, 
in  the  Hymenoptera  (ants,  bees,  etc.)  among  the  Arthro- 
poda, and  in  the  Mammalia,  including  man,  among  the 
Vertebrata. 

In  the  most  distinct  classes  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
with  mammals,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  insects,  and  even 
crustaceans,  the  differences  between  the  sexes  follow  al- 
most exactly  the  same  rules.  The  males  are  almost 
always  the  wooers ;  and  they  alone  are  armed  with 
special  weapons  for  fighting  with  their  rivals.  They  are 
generally  stronger  and  larger  than  the  females,  and  are 
endowed  with  the  requisite  qualities  of  courage  and  pug- 
nacity. They  are  provided,  either  exclusively  or  in  a 
much  higher  degree  than  the  females,  with  organs  for  pro- 
ducing vocal  or  instrumental  music,  and  with  odoriferous 
glands.  They  are  ornamented  with  infinitely-diversified 
appendages,  and  with  the  most  brilliant  or  conspicuous 
colors,  often  arranged  in  elegant  patterns,  while  the  fe- 
males are  left  unadorned.  When  the  sexes  differ  in  more 
important  structures,  it  is  the  male  which  is  provided  with 
special  sense-organs  for  discovering  the  female,  with  loco- 
motive organs  for  reaching  her,  and  often  with  prehensile 


380  GENERAL   SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

organs  for  holding  lier.  These  various  structures  for 
securing  or  charming  the  female  are  often  developed  in 
the  male  during  only  part  of  the  year,  namely,  the  breed- 
ing-season. They  have  in  many  cases  been  transferred  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  females  ;  and  in  the  latter 
case  they  appear  in  her  as  mere  rudiments.  They  are  lost 
by  the  males  after  emasculation.  Generally  they  are  not 
developed  in  the  male  during  early  youth,  but  appear  a 
short  time  before  the  age  for  reproduction.  Hence  in 
most  cases  the  young  of  both  sexes  resemble  each  other ; 
and  the  female  resembles  her  young  oflfspring  throughout 
life.  In  almost  every  great  class  a  few  anomalous  cases 
occur  in  which  there  has  been  an  almost  complete  trans- 
position of  the  characters  proper  to  the  two  sexes ;  the  fe- 
males assuming  characters  which  properly  belong  to  the 
males.  This  surprising  uniformity  in  the  laws  regulating 
the  differences  between  the  sexes  in  so  many  and  such 
widely-separated  classes,  is  intelligible  if  we  admit  the 
action  throughout  all  the  higher  divisions  of  the  animal 
kingdom  of  one  common  cause,  namely,  sexual  selection. 
Sexual  selection  depends  on  the  success  of  certain  in- 
dividuals over  others  of  the  same  sex  in  relation  to  the 
propagation  of  the  species ;  while  natural  selection  de- 
pends on  the  success  of  both  sexes,  at  all  ages,  in  relation 
to  the  general  conditions  of  life.  The  sexual  struggle  .is 
of  two  kinds ;  in  the  one  it  is  between  the  individuals  of 
the  same  sex,  generally  the  male  sex,  in  order  to  drive 
away  or  kill  their  rivals,  the  females  remaining  passive ; 
while,  in  the  other,  the  struggle  is  likewise  between  the 
individuals  of  the  same  sex,  in  order  to  excite  or  charm 
those  of  the  opposite  sex,  generally  the  females,  which  no 
longer  remain  passive,  but  select  the  more  agreeable  part- 
ners. This  latter  kind  of  selection  is  closely  analogous  to 
that  which  man  unintentionally,  yet  effectually,  brings  to 
bear  on  his  domesticated  productions,  when  he  continues 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  381 

for  a  long  time  choosing  the  most  pleasing  or  useful  indi- 
viduals, without  any  wish  to  modify  the  breed. 

The  laws  of  inheritance  determine  whether  characters 
gained  through  sexual  selection  by  either  sex  shall  be 
transmitted  to  the  same  sex,  or  to  both  sexes;  as  well  as 
the  age  at  which  they  shall  be  developed.  It  appears 
that  variations  which  arise  late  in  life  are  commonly  trans- 
mitted to  one  and  the  same  sex.  Variability  is  the  neces- 
sary basis  for  the  action  of  selection,  and  is  wholly  inde- 
pendent of  it.  It  follows  from  this,  that  variations  of  the 
same  general  nature  have  often  been  taken  advantage  of 
and  accumulated  through  sexual  selection  in  relation  to 
the  propagation  of  the  species,  and  through  natural  selec- 
tion in  relation  to  the  general  purposes  of  life.  Hence 
secondary  sexual  characters,  when  equally  transmitted  to 
both  sexes,  can  be  distinguished  from  ordinary  specific 
characters  only  by  the  light  of  analogy.  The  modifica- 
tions acquired  through  sexual  selection  are  often  so 
strongly  pronounced  that  the  two  sexes  have  frequently 
been  ranked  as  distinct  species,  or  even  as  distinct  genera. 
Such  strongly-marked  differences  must  be  in  some  manner 
highly  important;  and  we  know  that  they  have  been 
acquired  in  some  instances  at  the  cost  not  only  of  incon- 
venience, but  of  exposure  to  actual  danger. 

The  belief  in  the  power  of  sexual  selection  rests  chiefly 
on  the  following  considerations  :  The  characters  which 
we  have  the  best  reason  for  supposing  to  have  been  thus 
acquired  are  confined  to  one  sex ;  and  this  alone  renders 
it  probable  that  they  are  in  some  way  connected  with  the 
act  of  reproduction.  These  characters  in  innumerable  in- 
stances are  fully  developed  only  at  maturity ;  and  often 
during  only  a  part  of  the  year,  which  is  always  the  breed- 
ing-season. The  males  (passing  over  a  few  exceptional 
cases)  are  the  most  active  in  courtship  ;  they  are  the  best 
armed,  and  are  rendered  the  most  attractive  in  i^arious 


382  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

ways.  It  is  to  be  especially  observed  that  the  males  dis- 
play their  attractions  with  elaborate  care  in  the  presence 
of  the  females  ;  and  that  they  rarely  or  never  display  them 
excepting  during  the  season  of  love.  It  is  incredible  that 
all  this  display  should  be  purposeless.  Lastly,  we  have 
distinct  evidence  with  some  quadrupeds  and  birds  that  the 
individuals  of  the  one  sex  are  capable  of  feeling  a  strong 
antipathy  or  preference  for  certain  individuals  of  the  oppo- 
site sex. 

Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  and  not  forgetting  the 
marked  results  of  man's  unconscious  selection,  it  secms'to 
me  almost  certain  that  if  the  individuals  of  one  sex  were 
during  a  long  series  of  generations  to  prefer  pairing  with 
ceitain  individuals  of  the  other  sex,  characterized  in  some 
peculiar  manner,  the  offspring  would  slowly  but  surely 
become  modified  in  this  same  manner.  I  have  not  at- 
tempted to  conceal  tliat,  excepting  when  the  males  are 
more  numerous  than  the  females,  or  when  polygamy  pre- 
vails, it  is  doubtful  how  the  more  attractive  males  succeed 
in  leaving  a  larger  number  of  offspring  to  inherit  their 
superiority  in  ornaments  or  other  charms  than  the  less 
attractive  males  ;  but  I  have  shown  that  this  would  prob- 
ably follow  from  the  females — especially  the  more  vigor- 
ous females,  which  would  be  the  first  to  breed — preferring 
not  only  the  more  attractive  but  at  the  same  time  the 
more  vigorous  and  victorious  males. 

Although  we  have  some  positive  evidence  that  birds 
appreciate  bright  and  beautiful  objects,  as  with  the  Bower- 
birds  of  Australia,  and  although  they  certainly  appreciate 
the  power  of  song,  yet  I  fully  admit  that  it  is  an  astonish- 
ing fact  that  the  females  of  many  birds  and  some  mam- 
mals should  be  endowed  with  suflicient  taste  for  what  has 
apparently  been  effected  through  sexual  selection  ;  and 
this  is  even  more  astonishing  in  the  case  of  reptiles,  fish, 
and  insects.     But  we  really  know  very  little  about  the 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  383 

minds  of  the  lower  animals.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that 
male  Birds  of  Paradise  or  Peacocks,  for  instance,  should 
take  so  much  pains  in  erecting,  spreading,  and  vibrating 
their  beautiful  plumes  before  the  females  for  no  purpose. 
We  should  remember  the  fact  given  on  excellent  authority 
in  a  former  chapter,  namely,  that  several  peahens,  when 
debarred  from  an  admired  male,  remained  widows  during 
a  whole  season  rather  than  pair  with  another  bird. 

Nevertheless,  I  know  of  no  fact  in  natural  history  more 
wonderful  than  that  the  female  Argus  pheasant  should  be 
able  to  appreciate  the  exquisite  shading  of  the  ball-and- 
socket  ornaments  and  the  elegant  patterns  on  the  wing- 
feathers  of  the  male.  He  who  thinks  that  the  male  was 
created  as  he  now  exists  must  admit  that  the  great  plumes, 
which  prevent  the  wings  from  being  used  for  flight,  and 
which,  as  well  as  the  primary  feathers,  are  displayed  in  a 
manner  quite  peculiar  to  this  one  species  during  the  act 
of  courtship,  and  at  no  other  time,  were  given  to  him  as 
an  ornament.  If  so,  he  must  likewise  admit  that  the  fe- 
male was  created  and  endowed  with  the  capacity  of  ap- 
preciating such  ornaments.  I  difier  only  in  the  convic- 
tion that  the  male  Argus  pheasant  acquired  his  beauty 
gradually,  through  the  females  having  preferred  during 
many  generations  the  more  highly-ornamented  males  ;  the 
aesthetic  capacity  of  the  females  having  been  advanced 
through  exercise  or  habit  in  the  same  manner  as  our  own 
taste  is  gradually  improved.  In  the  male,  through  the 
fortunate  chance  of  a  few  feathers  not  having  been  modi- 
fied, we  can  distinctly  see  how  simple  spots  with  a  little 
fulvous  shading  on  one  side  might  have  been  developed 
by  small  and  graduated  steps  into  the  wonderful  ball-and- 
socket  ornaments  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  they  were  actu- 
ally thus  developed. 

Every  one  who  admits  the  principle  of  evolution,  and 
yet  feels  great  difficulty  in  admitting  that  female  mam- 


384  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

iiKiIs,  birds,  reptiles,  and  fisli,  could  have  acquired  the 
liigh  standard  of  taste  which  is  implied  by  the  beauty  of 
the  males,  and  which  generally  coincides  with  our  own 
standard,  should  reflect  that  in  each  member  of  the  verte- 
brate series  the  nerve-cells  of  the  brain  are  the  direct  off- 
shoots of  those  possessed  by  the  common  progenitor  of 
tlie  whole  group.  It  thus  becomes  intelligible  that  the 
brain  and  mental  faculties  should  be  capable  under  similar 
conditions  of  nearly  the  same  course  of  development,  and 
consequently  of  performing  nearly  the  same  functions. 

The  reader  who  has  taken  the  trouble  to  go  through 
the  several  chaj^ters  devoted  to  sexual  selection  will  be 
able  to  judge  how  far  the  conclusions  at  which  I  have  ar- 
rived are  supported  by  sufficient  evidence.  If  he  accepts 
these  conclusions,  he  may,  I  think,  safely  extend  them  to 
mankind  ;  but  it  would  be  superfluous  here  to  repeat  what 
I  have  so  lately  said  on  the  manner  in  which  sexual  selec- 
tion has  apparently  acted  on  both  the  male  and  female 
side,  causing  the  two  sexes  of  man  to  differ  in  body  and 
mind,  and  the  several  races  to  differ  from  each  other  in 
various  characters,  as  well  as  from  their  ancient  and  low- 
ly-organized jn-ogenitors. 

He  who  admits  the  principle  of  sexual  selection  will 
be  led  to  the  remarkable  conclusion  that  the  cerebral  sys- 
tem not  only  regulates  most  of  the  existing  functions  of 
the  body,  but  has  indirectly  influenced  the  progressive  de- 
veloi)nient  of  various  bodily  structures  and  of  certain  men- 
tal qualities.  Courage,  pugnacity,  perseverance,  strength 
and  size  of  body,  weapons  of  all  kinds,  musical  organs, 
both  vocal  and  instrumental,  bright  colors,  stripes  and 
marks,  and  ornamental  appendages,  have  all  been  indi- 
rectly gained  by  the  one  sex  or  the  other,  through  the 
influence  of  love  and  jealousy,  tlirough  the  appreciation 
of  the  beautiful  in  sound,  color,  or  form,  and  through  the 
exertion  of  a  choice  ;  and  these  powers  of  the  mind  mani- 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  385 

festly  depend  on  the  develoDment  of    the  cerebral  sys- 
tem. 

Man  scans  with  scrupulous  care  the  character  and  pedi- 
gree of  his  horses,  cattle,  and  dogs,  before  he  matclies 
them  ;  but  when  he  comes  to  his  own  marriage  he  rarely, 
or  never,  takes  any  such  care.  He  is  impelled  by  nearly 
the  same  motives  as  are  the  lower  animals  when  left  to 
their  own  free  choice,  though  he  is  in  so  far  superior  to 
them  that  he  highly  values  mental  charms  and  virtues. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  is  strongly  attracted  by  mere  wealth 
or  rank.  Yet  he  might  by  selection  do  something  not 
only  for  the  bodily  constitution  and  frame  of  his  offspring, 
but  for  their  intellectual  and  moral  qualities.  Both  sexes 
ought  to  refrain  from  marriage  if  in  any  marked  degree 
inferior  in  body  or  mind  ;  but  such  hopes  are  Utopian  and 
will  never  be  even  partially  realized  until  the  laws  of  in- 
heritance are  thoroughly  known.  All  do  good  service 
who  aid  toward  this  end.  When  the  principles  of  breed- 
ing and  of  inheritance  are  better  understood,  we  shall  not 
hear  ignorant  members  of  our  legislature  rejecting  with 
scorn  a  plan  for  ascertaining  by  an  easy  method  whether 
or  not  consanguineous  marriages  are  injurious  to  man. 

The  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  mankind  is  a  most 
intricate  problem  :  all  ought  to  refrain  from  marriage  who 
cannot  avoid  abject  poverty  for  their  children  ;  for  pov- 
erty is  not  only  a  great  evil,  but  tends  to  its  own  increase 
by  leading  to  recklessness  in  marriage.  On  the  other 
hand,  as  Mr.  Galton  has  remarked,  if  the  prudent  avoid 
marriage,  while  the  reckless  marry,  the  inferior  members 
will  tend  to  supplant  the  better  members  of  society. 
Man,  like  every  other  animal,  has  no  doubt  advanced  to 
his  present  high  condition  through  a  struggle  for  existence 
consequent  on  his  rapid  multiplication ;  and  if  he  is  to 
advance  stUl  higher  he  must  remain  subject  to  a  severe 
36 


38G  GENERAL  SUMMARY  [Part  II. 

Struggle.  Otherwise  he  would  soon  sink  into  indolence, 
and  the  more  liighly-gifted  men  would  not  be  more  suc- 
cessful in  the  battle  of  life  than  the  less  gifted.  Hence 
our  natural  rate  of  increase,  though  leading  to  many  and 
obvious  evils,  must  not  be  greatly  diminished  by  any 
means.  There  should  be  open  competition  for  all  men  ; 
and  the  most  able  should  not  be  prevented  by  laws  or  cus- 
toms from  succeeding  best  and  rearing  the  largest  number 
of  otfspriiig.  Important  as  the  struggle  for  existence  has 
been  and  even  still  is,  yet  as  far  as  the  highest  part  of 
man's  nature  is  concerned  there  are  other  agencies  more 
important.  For  the  moral  qualities  are  advanced,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  much  more  through  the  effects  of 
habit,  the  reasoning  powers,  instruction,  religion,  etc.,  than 
through  natural  selection  ;  though  to  this  latter  agency 
the  social  instincts,  whicli  afforded  the  basis  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  moral  sense,  may  be  safely  attributed. 

The  main  conclusion  arrived  at  in  this  work,  namely, 
that  man  is  descended  from  some  lowly-organized  form, 
will,  I  regret  to  think,  be  highly  distasteful  to  many  per- 
sons. But  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that  we  are  de- 
scended from  barbarians.  The  astonishment  which  I  felt 
on  first  seeing  a  party  of  Fuegians  on  a  wild  and  broken 
shore  will  never  be  forgotten  by  me,  for  the  reflection  at 
once  rushed  into  my  mind  —  such  were  our  ancestors. 
These  men  were  absolutely  naked  and  bedaubed  with 
paint,  their  long  hair  was  tangled,  their  mouths  frothed 
with  excitement,  and  their  expression  was  wild,  startled, 
and  distrustful.  They  possessed  hardly  any  arts,  and,  like 
wild  animals,  lived  on  what  they  could  catch  ;  they  had  no 
government,  and  were  merciless  to  every  one  not  of  their 
own  small  tribe.  lie  who  has  seen  a  savage  in  his  native 
land  will  not  feel  much  shame,  if  forced  to  acknowledge 
lliat  the  blood  of  some  more  humble  creature  flows  in  his 


Chap.  XXI.]  AND   CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  387 

veins.  For  my  own  part,  I  would  as  soon  be  descended 
from  that  heroic  little  monkey,  who  braved  his  dreaded 
enemy  in  oi-der  to  save  the  life  of  his  keeper ;  or  from 
that  old  baboon,  who,  descending  from  the  mountains, 
carried  away  in  triumph  his  young  comrade  from  a  crowd 
of  astonished  dogs — as  from  a  savage  who  delights  to  tor- 
ture his  enemies,  offers  up  bloody  sacrifices,  practises  in- 
fanticide without  remorse,  treats  his  wives  like  slaves, 
knows  no  decency,  and  is  haunted  by  the  grossest  super- 
stitions. 

Man  may  be  excused  for  feeling  some  pride  at  having 
risen,  though  not  through  his  own  exertions,  to  the  very 
summit  of  the  organic  scale ;  and  the  fact  of  his  having 
thus  risen,  instead  of  having  been  aboriginally  placed 
there,  may  give  him  hopes  for  a  still  higher  destiny  in  the 
distant  future.  But  we  are  not  here  concerned  with  hopes 
or  fears,  only  with  the  truth  as  far  as  our  reason  allows 
us  to  discover  it.  I  have  given  the  evidence  to  the  best 
of  my  ability  ;  and  we  must  acknowledge,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  that  man  with  all  his  noble  qualities,  with  sympathy 
which  feels  for  the  most  debased,  with  benevolence  which 
extends  not  only  to  other  men  but  to  the  humblest  living 
creature,  with  his  godlike  intellect  which  has  penetrated 
into  the  movements  and  constitution  of  the  solar  system 
— with  all  these  exalted  powers — Man  still  bears  in  his 
bodily  frame  the  indelible  stamp  of  his  lowly  origin. 


IIlN-DEX. 


A. 

Abbott,  C,  on  the  battles  of  seals,  U.  229. 

Abductor  of  the  fifth  metatarsal,  presence 
ot  in  man.  i.  123. 

Abercrombie,  Dr>,  on  disease  of  the  brain 
affecting  speech,  i.  56. 

Abiposes.  ni.irriuge-customs  of  the,  ii.  356. 

ABon-SiMBEL.  caves  of,  i.  209. 

Abortion,  prevalence  of  the  practice  ot,  i. 
129. 

Abstraction,  i.  60. 

Acal/fK  stridulation  ot  i.  372. 

Acantluxliivti/luit  capetwfUi,  sexual  differ- 
ences of  color  in,  ii.  34. 

Accentor  modnhirix.  ii.  189. 

Acclimatization",  difference  ot,  in  differ- 
ent races  of  men.  i.  209. 

AcJietidtr.  striilul:itiou  of  the,  I.  341,  342, 
84S ;  rudimentary  stridulating  or^'ans  in 
female,  i.  'A\-i. 

Aci/iu«  gu/cattis,  elj'tra  of  the  female,  i. 
363. 

Acomus.  development  of  spurs  in  the  fe- 
male of,  ii.  154. 

Aoridiidw,  stridulation  of  the,  i.  342,  345; 
rudimentary  stridulating  organs  in  fe- 
male, i.  34S. 

AcTiNo,  i.  224. 

Aciiiiicp,  brijfht  colors  of  i.  813. 

Ad-Miral  butterfly,  i.  3i0. 

Adoption  of  the  "young  of  other  animals 
by  female  monkeys,  i.  39. 

Advancement  in  the  organic  scale,  Von 
Baer's  definition  oC  i.  203. 

Aeby,  on  the  difference  between  the  skulls 
of  man  and  the  quadruiiiana.  i.  1^3. 

^Esthetic  faculty,  not  highly  developed  in 
savages,  i.  62. 

Affection,  iiiatcrnaL  i.  39 ;  manifestation 
oC  by  animals,  i.  .39 ;  parental  and  filial, 
partly  the  result  of  natural  selection,  i. 
77 ;  shown  by  birds  in  confinement,  for 
certjiin  persons,  ii.  105 :  mutual  of  birds, 
11.  104. 

Africa,  probably  the  birthplace  of  man.  1. 
191 ;  ijouth,  crossed  population  of^  i.  217, 


South,  retention  of  color  by  the  Dutch 
in,  i.  233 ;  South,  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in  the  butterflies  o^  i.  301 ;  tattooing 
practised  in.  ii.  323 ;  Northern,  coiffure 
of  natives  of  ii.  324. 

Agassiz,  L.,  on  conscience  in  dogs.  i.  75; 
on  the  coincidence  of  the  races,  of  man 
with  zoological  provinces.  1.  210;  on  the 
number  of  species  of  man,  i.  21S;  on  the 
courtship  of  the  land-snails,  i.  815;  on 
the  brightness  of  the  colors  of  male  fishes 
during  the  breeding-season,  ii.  12 ;  on  the 
frontal  protuberance  of  the  males,  of 
Geoi>}uigiu<  and  Cichhi.  ii.  13,  26 ;  on  the 
slight  sexual  differences  of  the  South 
Americans,  ii.  308 ;  on  the  tattooing  of 
the  Aiuuzouian  Indians,  ii.  326. 

Age,  in  relation  to  the  transmission  of 
characters  in  birds,  ii.  175;  variation  in 
accordance  with,  in  birds,  ii.  203. 

Age/wus  Pfunniceiis,  ii.  111. 

Ageronia  /eronia,  noise  produced  by,  L 
375. 

Agrion.  dimorphism  in.  i.  352. 

Agrion  liamhiirii,  sexes  ot,  i.  351. 

AC.RION1D.E,  difference  in  the  sexes  ot,  i 
361. 

Agrotis  erclnmationiJi.  i.  35S. 

AofE,  tertian,  dog  suffei-ing  from,  i.  12. 

Aithiiru-H  po/i/tmiu).  young  ot,  ii,  211. 

AioNos,  hairiness  of  the.  ii.  306. 

A/c(i  ton! (I,  young  of  ii.  203. 

A/''^Ji  palmatd.  ii.  247. 

Alder  and  Hancock,  >rM.,  on  the  uudl- 
branch  mollusca.  i.  817. 

Ai.(iKN,  Mr.,  on  the  stridulation  of  &o/y<i«, 
i.  368. 

Allen,  J.  A.,  on  the  relative  size  of  the 
sexes  of  Cal/orhinus  ursinus,  ii.  24S; 
on  the  mane  of  Otaria  juhata,  ii.  255: 
on  the  pairing  of  seals,  ii.  257 ;  on  sexual 
ditt'erences  in  the  color  of  bats.  ii.  273. 

Allen.  S.,  on  the  habits  of  //oploptenui, 
ii.  46;  on  the  plumes  of  herons,  ii.  79; 
on  the  vernal  moult  of  IleroJias,  biibul- 
cux,  ii.  SO. 

Allioatob,  court.ship  of  the  male,  1.  264^ 
ii.  27 ;  roaring  of  the  male,  i.  322. 


INDEX. 


389 


Amadayat,  pugnacity  of  male,  li.  46. 

Amadina  Lat/iami' display  of  plumage 
by  the  male,  ii.  91. 

Amadina  casianotis,  display  of  plumage 
by  the  male,  li.  91. 

Amazons,  butterflies  of  the,  1.  801;  fishes 
of  the,  ii.  17. 

America,  variation  in  the  skulls  of  abori- 
gines of,  1.  104 ;  wide  rangre  of  aborigines 
of,  i.  211;  lice  of  the  natives  of  i.  212; 
general  beardlessness  of  the  natives  of, 
ii.  307. 

America,  North,  butterflies  of,  1.  301 ;  In- 
dians of,  vromen  a  cause  of  strife  among 
the,  ii.  308 ;  Indians  of,  their  notions  of 
female  beauty,  ii.  327,  328. 

America,  South,  character  of  the  natives 
o^  i.  208 ;  population  of  parts  of  i.  216 ; 
piles  of  stones  in,  i.  224 ;  extinction  of 
the  fossil  horse  ot,  1. 231 ;  desert-birds  of, 
U.  214;  slight  se.vual  difference  of  the 
aborigines  of,  ii.  367 ;  prevalence  of  infan- 
ticide in,  ii.  347. 

American  languages,  often  highly  artifi- 
cial, 1. 103. 

Americans,  wide  geographical  range  of,  i. 
108 ;  and  negroes,  diflerence  of,  1.  238 ; 
aversion  of,  to  hair  on  the  face,  ii.  219 ; 
native,  variability  of,  i.  219. 

Ammophila,  on  the  jaws  of,  i.  232. 

Amniotraffus  tragelaplius,  hairy  forelegs 
of  ii.  269,  272. 

Amphibia,  affinity  o^  to  the  ganoid  fishes, 
i.  196;  vocal  organs  of  the,  ii.  315. 

Amphibi.ins,  1.  204,  ii.  22;  breeding  while 
immature,  ii.  206. 

Amphiaxus.  i.  196. 

Amphipoda,  males  sexually  mature  while 
young,  ii.  205. 

Amunopii  III.,  negro  character  of  features 
of,  i.  210. 

Anal  appendages  of  insects,  i.  332. 

Analogous  variation  in  the  plumage  of 
birds,  ii.  71. 

Anas,  ii.  172. 

Anas  OGuta,  male  plumage  of,  ii.  81. 

Anaa  boschas,  male  plumage  of,  11.  81. 

Anas  histHonica,  ii.  205. 

Anastomus  oscUams,  sexes  and  young  ot, 
11.  208;  white  nuptial  plumage  of,  ii. 
218. 

Anatid-e,  voices  ot  li,  57. 

Anax  Junius,  difference  in  the  sexes  o^  1. 
351. 

Aj^glo-Saxons,  estimation  of  the  beard 
among  the,  11.  333. 

Animals,  cruelty  of  savages  to,  1.91;  do- 
mesticated, more  fertile  than  wild,  i.  127 ; 
characters  common  to  man  and,  i.  178 ; 
domestic,  change  of  breeds  of,  ii.  353. 

Annelida,  1.  318. 

Annulosa,  i.  318. 

Anolis  cristatellus,  male,  crest  of,  11.  30 ; 
pugnacity  of  the  male,  ii.  30;  throat- 
pouch  of,  ii.  31. 

AnoHum  tessellatum,  sounds  produced 
by,  1.  373. 

Anser  Canadensis,  IL  112. 


Anser  cygnoides.  ii.  110;  knob  at  the  base 
of  the  beak  of,  ii.  124. 

Anser  hyperboreus,  whiteness  of  ii.  218. 

Antelope,  prong-horned,  homs  of,  1.  279. 

Antelopes,  generally  polygamous,  1.  258 ; 
horns  of^  i.  279,  ii.  234 ;  canine  teeth  of 
some  male,  ii.  230;  use  of  horns  of  ii. 
259 ;  dorsal  crests  in,  11.  268 ;  dewlaps  ot, 
11.  270 ;  winter  change  of  two  species  of, 
li.  284 ;  peculiar  markings  oi^  ii.  285, 

Antennje,  furnished  with  cushions  in  the 
male  of  Penth^,  i.  333. 

Anthidium  manicatum,  large  male  of,  1. 
337. 

Anthocharis  oardamines,  1. 376,  381 ;  sex- 
ual difference  of  color  in,  1.  396. 

Anthooharis  genutia,  1.  381. 

Anthocharis  sara,  i.  381. 

Anthopjhora  acervorum,  large  male  of  1. 
337. 

Anthophora  rettisa,  difference  of  the  sexes 
in,  1.  354. 

Anthu-s,  moulting  of,  ii.  79. 

ANTHROPID.E,  1.  187. 

Antigua,  Dr.  Nicholson's  observations  on 
yellow  fever  in,  1.  236. 

Antics  of  birds,  11.  65. 

Antilocapra  Americana,  homs  o^  i,  280, 
11.  234. 

AntUope  bezoartica,  horned  females  of  ii. 
235,  237 ;  sexual  difference  in  the  color 
of  ii.  274. 

AntUope  Dorcas  and  euchore,  li.  234. 

Ant  Hope  euchore,  horns  of  ii.  239. 

AntUope  m-ontana,  rudimentary  canines 
in  the  young  male  of  11.  246. 

AntUope  niger,  sing-sing,  caama,  and 
gorgon.  sexual  differences  ia  the  colors 
of  ii.  275. 

AntUope  orens,  horns  of  i.  279. 

AntUope  saiga,  polygamous  habits  of,  1. 
2.58. 

AntUope  strepsiceros,  horns  of  1.  279. 

AntUope  subguttiirosa,  absence  of  sub- 
orbital pits  in,  ii.  267. 

Antipathy,  shown  by  birds  in  confine- 
ment, to  certain  persons,  ii.  106. 

Ants,  i.  179 ;  playing  together,  1.  38;  mem- 
ory in,  i.  44;  intercommunication  of,  by 
means  of  the  antennte,  1.  56 ;  large  size 
of  the  cerebral  ganglia  in,  i.  140 ;  soldier-, 
large  jaws  of  1.  149 ;  difference  of  the 
sexes  in,  1.  854 ;  recognition  of  each  other 
by,  after  separation,  1.  354. 

Ants,  Wiiite,  habits  of,  1. 353. 

Anura,  ii.  24. 

Apatania  muUebris,  male  unknown,  i. 
306. 

Apathzi-s,  difference  of  the  sexes  in,  1.  355. 

Apatura  Iri.%  1.  374,  376. 

Apes,  anthropomorphous,  1.  189 ;  differ- 
ence of  the  young,  from  the  adult,  1. 18  ; 
building  platforms,  i.  51 ;  probable 
speedy  e.xtermination  of  the,  i.  193;  Gra- 
tiolet  on  the  evolution  of,  1.  222 ;  semi- 
erect  attitude  of  some,  1.  137  ;  mastoid 
processes  ot,  1. 137;  influence  of  the  jaw- 
muscles  on  the  physiognomy  of.  1.  139 ; 


390 


INDEX. 


fpmnlc,  dcsfltiito  of  larpe  oanlnes,  1. 150; 
linluitivc  fiU'iiltU'S  of.  i.  l.V);  canine  t«j<'th 
of  mule,  il.  'iiO ;  feiiiHles  of  some,  less 
li.iiry  iK-ncith  than  the  nmle.s,  ii.  .'{fil. 

Al'fM,  lonjr-unncd,  their  mode  of  progres- 
sion, i.  1H7. 

Apia  mellijicn,  Inrpe  male  ot  I.  837. 

Al'iil-I-O,  (ireek  statues  of,  ii.  .333. 

Apoplexy  in  i'ehtm  Az<ir(T,  i.  12. 

Approbation,  inlluence  of  the  love  ot,  i. 
82,  88,  157,  15S. 

Appf.nua<;e8,  anal,  of  insects,  i.  332. 
proxmhtiiM  nciiiiuUttiin,  ii.  IfiC. 

Agi'ATic  birds,  frequency  of  white  plu- 
mage in.  ii.  219. 

A(/iii/a  cAri/miefos,  ii.  100. 

Akab  women,  elaborate  and  peculiar  coif- 
fure of,  ii.  *36. 

Araiis,  pashinff  of  cheeks  and  temples 
among  the,  ii.  323. 

AnAcnNiDA,  i.  .321. 

Arakhan,  artitioial  widening  of  the  fore- 
head by  the  natives  of.  ii.  !i35. 

Arl/oricola,  younff  of,  ii.  1S2. 

ArcheopteritJr,  i.  Ht6. 

AUCTI1D.E,  coloration  of  the,  1.  883. 

Ardea  axhii,  rufeftcenn^  and  cariUeu, 
changre  of  color  in,  ii.  221,  222. 

Ar</e<i  c(Frii/e<i,  breeding  in  immature 
plumage,  ii.  205. 

Arf/eti  yularis,  change  of  plumage  in,  ii. 
222. 

Arcteij  herodias,  love-gestures  of  the  male, 
ii.  65. 

An/ea  ln<loriciana,  age  of  mature  plu- 
mage in,  ii.  204 ;  continued  growth  of 
crest  and  jiliitiics  in  the  male  ot,  il.  207. 

Ar(le<i  tii/ctiforii.r,  cries  of,  ii.  48. 

Ardeo/a,  young  of,  ii.  182. 

Ardetta,  changes  of  plumage  in,  Ii.  170. 

Argenteuii.,  i.  2S. 

Argus  pheasant,  ii.  69,  93.  173;  displ.iy  of 
plumage  bv  the  male,  ii.  69;  ocelliited 
spots  of  the.  ii.  128,  135;  gradation  of 
clianicters  in  the,  ii.  135. 

Argyll,  Duke  of.  the  fashioning  of  imple- 
ments peculiar  to  man,  i.  50;  on  the  con- 
test in  man  between  right  and  wrong,  i. 
100;  on  the  physical  weakness  of  man,  1. 
149 ;  on  the  priinitive  civili/jition  of  man, 
i.  174;  on  the  plumage  of  the  male  .Vrgus 
phea.sant,  ii..'>y;  on  Uronticfe  Ben'/dmiiii, 
Ii.  145;  on  the  nests  of  birds,  ii.  l.')9;  on 
variety  as  an  object  in  nature,  ii.  220. 

Arf/i/nnis  aff/tiia,  coloring  of  the  lower 
surface  of.  i.  384. 

Aricoria  ej>ifiiM.  sexual  differences  in  the 

wings  of  i.  asa. 

Aristocracy,  ijicreased  beauty  of  the,  ii. 

340. 
Arms,  proportions  of,  in  soldiers  and  sailors, 

i.   112;  direction  of  the  hair  on   the,  i. 

1S5. 
Arms  and  hands,  free  use  of,  indirectly  cor- 

nlated  with  diminution  of  canines,  i.  138. 
Arrest  of  development,  i.  117. 
Arrow-heads,  stone,  general  rcsemblAnce 

of;  i.  224. 


Arrows,  use  of,  1.  224. 

Arteries,  variations  in  the  course  of  the, 
i.  104. 

Artery,  effect  of  tying,  upon  the  lateral 
channels,  i.  112. 

Abtiiropoda,  i.  318. 

Arts  practised  by  savages,  1.  225. 

AsrENsios,  colored  incrustation  on  the 
rocks  of.  i.  317. 

Abcihia,  affinity  of  the  lancelet  to,  1. 196; 
ta(li>ole-like  larva;  of,  i.  197. 

AsciDiANS,  i.  315;  bright  colors  of  some,  L 
813. 

Axin  lis,  Asiatic  and  African  species  ot  ii. 
291. 

Atimis  t<TniopuA  ii.  291. 

Ass,  color-variations  of  the.  ii.  291. 

AteUx,  effects  of  brandy  on  an,  L  12 ;  ab- 
sence of  the  thumb  in.  i.  135. 

AteUx  f>eeh4!lnith.  ears  of,  i.  22. 

Ate/ex  maryinatiix.  color  of  the  ruff  of,  ii. 
278;  hair  on  the  head  of.  ii.  105;  on  the 
recognitii)n  of  a  dog  by  a  turkey,  ii.  IOC; 
on  the  selection  of  a  mate  by  female 
birds,  ii.  199. 

Ateuclnin,  stridulation  oC  i.  372. 

AteuvhuM  ciciitricOKU-K.  habits  of,  i.  365. 

Athaiid,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in.  i.  805. 

Attention,  manifestations  of,  in  animals,  i. 
43. 

AiTDomN,  v.,  on  a  h^Tnenopterous  parasite 
with  a  sedentary  male.  i.  204. 

Audubon,  J.  J.,  on  the  pugnacity  of  male 
birds,  ii.  41,  46;  on  Tetrao  ciipido,  ii. 
47;  on  An/en  7i >/ctlcorax,  ii.  48;  on 
iSfurnella  luiioriciana,  ii.  48  ;  on  tho 
vocal  organs  of  Tetrno  ciipido.  ii.  53 ;  on 
the  drumming  of  the  male  Tetrao  vm- 
be/liiM,  ii.  59;  on  sounds  pro<iuced  by  the 
niL'htJar.  ii.  61 ;  on  Ardea  herodin'ti  and 
(iitluirten  jota,  ii.  65;  on  the  spring 
change  of  color  in  some  finches,  ii.  S3 ; 
on  Mimiw  poliiglottuM.  ii.  112;  on  the 
turkey,  ii.  114,  116;  on  variation  in  the 
male  scarlet  tanager,  ii.  121  ;  on  the  hab- 
its of  Piirangtt  (rutira.  ii.  1.59;  on  local 
differences  in  the  nests  of  the  same  spe- 
cies of  birds,  ii.  KW;  on  the  habits  of 
woodpeckers,  ii.  167;  on  Bombyrilla 
CdrolinenMix.W.Wl:  on  young  females 
of  Taiuigra  tvxfifii  a<'quiring  male 
characters,  ii.  172;  on  the  immature  plu- 
mage of  thrushes*,  ii.  177  ;  on  the  inmia- 
ture  plumage  of  birds,  ii.  17^,  et  seq. ;  on 
birds  breeding  in  immature  plumage,  ii. 
205;  on  the  growth  of  the  crest  and 
plumes  in  the  male  Ardea  liidoriciand, 
ii.  206;  on  the  change  of  color  in  some 
species  of  Ardea.  ii.  221 ;  on  the  specu- 
lum of  Merffim  oieiilUitiw,  ii.  277;  on 
the  musk-rat,  ii.  2S4. 

ArofHoN  and  ISachman,  MM.,  on  squirrels 
fighting,  ii.  228;  on  the  Canadian  lynx,  ii. 
2.55. 

ArsTEN,  N.  L.,  on  AiwlU  cn'stateUu«,  U. 
81. 

Australia,  half-castes  killed  by  tho  na- 
tives of;  1.  212 ;  lice  of  the  natives  of;  L 


INDEX. 


391 


212 ;  not  the  birthplace  of  man,  i.  191 ; 
prevalence  of  female  infanticide  in,  ii. 

AirsTRALiA,  South,  variation  in  the  skulls 
of  aborijpnes  of,  i.  104. 

ArsTRAXiANS,  color  of  new-born  children 
of  li.  303;  relative  height  of  the  sexes 
of  ii.  305 ;  women  a  cause  of  war  among 
the,  ii.  808. 

Axis  deer,  sexual  difference  in  the  color 
of  the,  ii.  2T6. 

Aymakas,  measurements  of  the,  i.  115 ;  no 
gray  hair  among  the.  ii.  304 ;  hairlessness 
of  the  lace  in  the,  ii.  307 ;  long  hair  of  the, 
ii.  331. 

AzARA,  on  the  proportion  of  men  and 
women  among  the  (Juaranys.  i.  302  ;  on 
Palamedea  cornnia,  ii.  44;  on  the 
beards  of  the  Guaranys,  ii.  307 ;  on  strife 
for  women  among  the  Guanas,  ii.  309 ; 
on  infanticide,  ii.  328,  347 ;  on  the  eradi- 
cation of  the  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  by 
the  Indians  of  Paraguay,  li.  3.32;  on  poly- 
andry among  the  Guanas,  ii.  349;  celi- 
bacy unknown  among  the  savages  of 
South  America,  ii.  350;  on  the  freedom 
of  divorce  among  the  Charruas,  ii.  356. 


Babbage,  C,  on  the  greater  proportion  of 
illegitimate  female  bu-ths,  i.  292. 

Babikusa,  tusks  of  the,  ii.  252. 

Baboon,  employing  a  mat  for  shelter 
against  the  sun,  i.  51 ;  manifestation  of 
memory  by  a,  i.  43 ;  X'rotected  from  pun- 
ishment by  its  companions,  i.  74;  rage 
excited  in,  by  reading,  i.  41. 

Baboon,  Cape,  mane  of  the  male,  ii.  255; 
Hamadrj'as,  mane  of  the  male,  ii.  255. 

Baboons,  effects  of  intoxicating  liquors  on, 
i.  12;  ears  of,  i.  22;  manifestation  of  ma- 
ternal affection  by,  i.  38;  using  stones 
and  sticks  as  weapons,  i.  50 ;  cooperation 
of  i.  72 ;  silence  of  on  plundering  e.xpe- 
ditions,  i.  75;  diversity  of  the  ment.al 
faculties  in.  i.  106 ;  hands  of  i.  134;  hab- 
its of  i.  136;  variability  of  the  tail  in,  i. 
144;  apparent  polygamy  of  i.  258;  po- 
lygamous and  social  habits  of  ii.  345,  346. 

Bachman,  Dr.,  on  the  fertihty  of  mulat- 
toes,  i.  213. 

Baer,  K.  E.,  von,  on  embryonic  develop- 
ment, i.  14. 

Bagehot,  W.,  on  the  social  virtues  among 
primitive  men,  i.  89 ;  on  the  value  of 
obedience,  i.  156;  on  human  progress,  i. 
160;  on  the  persistence  of  savage  tribes 
in  classical  times,  i.  230. 

Bailly,  E.  M.,  on  the  fighting  of  stags,  ii. 
241 ;  on  the  mode  of  fighting  of  the  Ital- 
ian butfalo,  ii.  239. 

Bain,  A.,  on  the  sense  of  duty,  i.  68;  aid 
springing  from  sjinpathy,  i.  74;  on  the 
bases  of  sjTnpathy,  1.  78 ;  on  love  of  ap- 
probation, etc.,  1.  82 ;  on  the  idea  of  beau- 
ty, ii.  337. 


Baird,  W.,  on  a  difference  in  color  between 
the  males  and  females  of  some  Entozoa, 
i.  312. 

Baker,  Mr.,  observation  on  the  proportion 
of  the  sexes  in  pheasant-chicks,  i.  297. 

Baker,  Sir  S.,  on  the  fondness  of  the  Arabs 
for  discordant  music,  ii.  64;  on  sexual 
difference  in  the  colors  of  an  antelope,  ii. 
275 ;  on  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros  at- 
tacking white  or  gray  horses,  ii.  2S1 ;  on 
the  disfigurements  practised  by  the  ne- 
groes, li.  282;  on  the  gashing  of  the 
cheeks  and  temples  practised  in  Arab 
countries,  ii.  323 ;  on  the  coiffure  of  the 
North  Africans,  ii.  324;  on  the  perfora- 
of  the  lower  lip  by  the  women  of  La- 
tooka,  il.  325 ;  on  the  distinctive  chai-ac- 
ters  of  the  coiffure  of  central  African 
tiibes,  ii.  326 ;  on  the  coiffui-e  of  Arab 
women,  ii.  336. 

"Balz"  of  the  Black-cock,  ii.  43,  96. 

Bantam,  Sebright,  i.  250.  285. 

Banteng,  horns  of  ii.  236 ;  sexual  differ- 
ences in  the  colors  of  the.  ii.  275. 

Banyai,  color  of  the,  ii.  330. 

Barbarism,  primitive,  of  civilized  nations, 
1.  174. 

Barbs,  filamentous,  of  the  feathers,  in  cer- 
tain birds,  ii.  70. 

Barr,  Mr.,  on  sexual  preference  in  dogs,  li. 
259. 

Barrington,  Daines,  on  the  language  of 
birds,  i.  53;  on  the  clucking  of  the  hen, 
ii.  49 ;  on  the  object  of  the  song  of  birds, 
il.  50 ;  on  the  singing  of  female  birds,  ii. 
51 ;  on  birds  acquiring  the  songs  of  other 
birds,  ii.  52 ;  en  the  muscles  of  the  lar- 
ynx in  song-birds,  ii.  53 ;  on  the  want  of 
the  power  of  song  by  female  bh-ds,  ii. 
156. 

Barrow,  on  the  widow-bird,  ii.  93. 

Bartlett,  A.  V>..  on  the  ti-agopan,  i.  261; 
on  the  development  of  the  spurs,  in 
Crofiftoptilon  avritum^  i.  280;  on  the 
fighting  of  the  males  of  Plectropterns 
gamhettma.W.  H;  on  the  knot,  ii.  78; 
on  display  In  male  birds,  ii.  83 ;  on  the 
display  of  plumage  by  the  male  Poly- 
plectron^  ii.  85;  on  CromoptVon  auri- 
ttim  and  Pkag/anvs  Wdl/ic/iii,  ii.  89 ; 
on  the  habits  of  Lophopfior^t.'i.  ii.  116; 
on  the  color  of  the  mouth  in  Biiceros 
hicornis,  ii.  123 ;  on  the  incubation  of 
the  cassowan,',  ii.  195 ;  on  the  Cape  Buf- 
falo, ii.  239 ;  on  the  use  of  the  horns  of 
antelopes,  ii.  240 ;  on  the  fighting  of  male 
wart-hogs,  ii.  254;  on  Ammotragiis  tra- 
gehijjfiv,%  ii.  269;  on  the  colors  of  C'er- 
co])ithecnfi  cephus,  ii.  277;  on  the  colors 
of  the  faces  of  monkeys,  ii.  295;  on  the 
naked  surfaces  of  monkeys,  ii.  360. 

Bartram,  on  the  courtship  of  the  male 
alligator,  ii.  27. 

Basque  language,  highly  artificial,  i.  59. 

Bate,  C.  S.,  on  the  superior  activity  of 
male  Crustacea,  i.  263;  on  the  propor- 
tions of  the  sexes  in  crabs,  i.  807 ;  on  the 
chelae  of  Crustacea,  i.  320 ;  on  the  relative 


392 


INDEX. 


Bizp  of  tho  BPxra  In  rrnstnoea,  I.  82-3 ;  on 
the  colors  ofcrustacoii,  i.  32(i. 

Bates,  H.  W.,  on  vnriiition  in  the  form  of 
the  lir.'ul  of  Amazonian  Indians,  i.  10"; 
on  the  proportion  of  the  .loxes  anionjj 
Amazonian  Initterllies,  i.  3(11  ;  on  pexual 
(lifferencfs  in  tlie  winjrs  of  huttcrllies,  1. 
8;J5:  on  tlie  (leld-ciiclcet,  i.  342;  on  /'//- 
rmle*  pii/c/ierriniiiti,  i.  3.'jO;  on  the 
horns  of  1  jiniellicom  beetles,  i.  8.59,  860; 
on  the  eolors  of  f'jticd/iir.  etc..  i.  376 ; 
on  the  coloration  of  tropica!  hiittorflies.  1. 
879;  on  tlic  varialiiiily  «(  /'<ij>i7iu  Simik- 
tri»  ain\  ('hildreiKt:  i.  I}!MI;  on  male  and 
female  butterllies  inhahitin)!  dillVrent  stJi- 
tions,  i.  390;  on  mimickry,  i.  3US;  on  the 
caterpillar  of  a  Sphinx,  1.  402;  on  the 
vocal  orpins  of  the  umbrella-bird.  ii.  liC; 
on  the  toucans,  li.  217 ;  on  Bracliyiirim 
culrtio,  ii.  295. 

Batokas,  linocking  out  two  upper  inci- 
sors, ii.  324. 

Batracuia,  ii.  24;  eagerness  of  male,  i. 
263. 

Bats,  sexual  differences  in  the  color  of;  ii. 
272. 

Battle,  law  of,  i.  175;  among  beetles,  i. 
363 ;  among  birds,  ii.  88 ;  among  mam- 
mals, ii.  229,  ft  seq. ;  in  man,  ii.  308. 

Beak,  sexual  difference  in  the  forms  of 
the,  ii.  37 ;  in  the  color  of  the,  ii.  69. 

Beaks,  of  birds,  bright  colors  of  ii.  21T. 

Beard,  development  ot;  in  man,  ii.  802 ; 
analogy  of  the,  in  man  and  the  quadru- 
iiiana,  ii.  304;  variation  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the.  in  ditferent  races  of  men,  ii. 
806;  estimation  of.  among  bearded  na- 
tions, ii.  *?:? ;  jn-obable  origin  of  the,  ii.  356. 

Beards,  in  monkeys,  i.  1$4;  of  mammals, 
ii.  269. 

BEAi'TiKn,  taste  for  the,  in  birds,  ii.  103; 
in  the  quadruman.-i,  ii.,2S2. 

Beauty,  sense  of.  in  animals,  i.  61 ;  appre- 
ciation of  by  binl.s.  ii.  107;  influence  of, 
ii.  322.  327 ;  "variability  of  the  standard 
of,  ii.  3rw3. 

Beavan.  Lieut.,  on  the  development  of  the 
horns  in  Cerrtix  Ehli.  i.  279. 

Br.AVER,  instinct  and  intelligence  of  the, 
i.  36,  87 ;  voice  of  the,  ii.  2W ;  castoreum 
of  the.  ii.  266. 

Beaters,  battles  of  male,  ii.  228. 

BEnisTEiN.  on  female  birds  choosing  the 
best  .sinirers  among  tlie  males,  ii.  49;  on 
rivalry  in  ,><on'_'--liirds.  ii.  50;  on  the  sing- 
ing of  fi-niale  liii-ds,  ii.  51 ;  on  birds  ac- 
quiring the  .'iongs  of  other  birds,  ii.  .52 ; 
on  pairing  the  canary  and  siskin,  ii.  110; 
on  a  subvariety  of  the  monk  i)igeon,  ii. 
126;  on  spurred  hen.s  ii.  154. 

Bedooe,  Dr..  on  causes  of  difference  in 
stiiture,  i.  HI. 

Bee-eater,  ii.  .53. 

Bkks.  i.  70;  destruction  of  drones  and 
queens  by,  i.  77:  pollen -baskets  and 
stings  of,  i.  149;  fernal<>.  Mcoiidary  sexu- 
al characters  of,  i.  246;  ditl'erenco"  of  the 
sexes  in,  i.  8&1. 


Beeti-E,  himinous  larva  of  a.  I.  33.'). 

Beetles,  i.  8.55;  size  of  the  cerebral  gan- 
glia in.  1.  140;  dilatition  of  the  fore  tarsi 
in  male.  i.  883;  blind,  i.  856;  etridulation 
of,  i.  366. 

Belgium,  ancient  inhabitants  of  i.  228. 

Bell,  Sir  ('.,  on  emotional  mu.solcs  in  man, 
i.  5 ;  '•  snarling  muscles,"  i.  122 ;  on  the 
h.ind.  i.  136. 

Bell,  T.,  on  the  numerical  porportion  of 
the  sexes  in  moles,  i.  296;  on  the  newts, 
ii.  28 ;  on  the  croaking  of  the  frog.  ii. 
25;  on  the  difference  in  the  coloration 
of  the  sexes  in  Zootocti  Hripara,  ii.  85; 
on  moles  fighting,  ii.  228. 

Bell-bird,  sexual  difference  in  the  color 
of  the,  ii.  75. 

Bell-birds,  colors  of,  ii.  218. 

Benevolence,  manifested  by  birds,  11 
104. 

Bennett,  A.  W..  on  the  habits  oi  Dronux- 
iix  irrordtim.  ii.  196. 

Bennett,  Dr..  on  birds  of  paradise,  ii.  85. 

Bernield  tinfcirciicd.  colors  of  ii.  218. 

Bernicle  gander  pairing  with  a  Canada 
goose,  ii.  109. 

Bettonl  K..  on  local  differences  in  the 
nests  of  It;ilian  birds,  ii.  16!?. 

Bik^teas,  color  of  the  beard  in,  ii.  804. 

Bhringd.  disciform  tail-feathers  of  ii.  86. 

Bihio,  se.xual  differences  in  the  genus,  L 
388. 

BicnAT,  on  beauty,  ii.  888. 

Bile,  colored,  in  inany  animals,  i.  814. 

Bl.MANA,  i.  Is3. 

Birds,  imitations  of  the  songs  of  other 
birds  by,  i.  42;  dreaming,  i.  44;  lan- 
guage of  i.  53;  sense  of  beantv  in,  i.  61 ; 
I)leasure  o£  in  incubation,  i.  ^76;  male, 
incubation  by,  i.  2o:i;  and  n'ptiles.  alli- 
ance ot;  i.  2(U;  sexual  ditl'erences  in  the 
beak  of  some.  i.  247 ;  migratory,  arrival 
of  the  male  before  the  female,  i.  2.51 ;  ap- 
parent relation  between  polygamy  and 
marked  sexual  differences  in,  i.  261 ; 
monogamous.  Uecominir  polygainous  un- 
der domestication,  i.  262;  e;igerne.ss  of 
male  in  pursuit  of  the  female,  i.  26:}; 
wild,  numerical  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in.  i.  297 ;  secondary  sexual  characters 
of,  ii.  36;  ditference  of  size  in  the  sexes 
of,  ii.  41 ;  fights  of  male,  witnessed  by  fe- 
males, ii.  46;  display  of  male,  to  capti- 
vate the  females,  ii.  47;  close  attention 
of,  to  the  songs  of  others,  ii.  .50;  acquir- 
ing the  song  of  their  foster-jiarents.  ii. 
52;  brilli.ant,  rarely  good  songsters,  ii.. 53; 
love-antics  and  dances  of;  ii.  (>5;  colora- 
tion of;  ii.  71.  et  Htqq. ;  moulting  oC  ii. 
77,  et  seqq. ;  unpaired,  ii.  99 ;  male,  sing- 
ing out  of  season,  ii.  102;  mutual  afl'ec- 
tion  of,  ii.  104;  in  confinement,  distin- 
guish [jersons,  ii.  105;  hybrid,  produc- 
tion of,  ii.  109;  Kuropean,  number  of 
species  of.  ii.  119;  variability  of  ii.  119; 
p-adation  of  secondary  sexual  charactera 
in,  ii.  129;  obscurely  colored,  building 
concealed  nests,  ii.  161 ;   young  female 


INDEX. 


393 


acquiring'  male  characters,  ii.  172 ;  breed- 
ing in  immature  plumage,  ii.  205 ;  moult- 
ing of,  ii.  204;  aquatic,  frequency  of 
white  plumage  in,  ii.  219 ;  vocal  court- 
ship of,  ii.  315 ;  naked  skin  of  the  head 
and  neck  in,  ii.  377. 

Birgus  latro,  habits  of,  i.  325. 

BiEKBECK,  Mr.,  on  the  finding  of  new 
mates  by  Golden  Eagles,  ii.  100. 

Birthplace  of  man,  i.  191. 

BiETHS,  numerical  proportions  of  the  sexes 
in,  in  animals  and  man,  i.  255,  256 ;  male 
and  female,  numerical  proportion  of,  in 
England,  i.  291. 

BiscHOFF,  Prof.,  on  the  agreement  be- 
tween the  brains  of  man  and  of  the 
Orang,  i.  10 ;  figure  of  the  embryo  of  the 
dog,  i.  15;  on  the  convolutions  of  the 
brain  in  the  human  fcetus,  i.  16;  on  the 
difference  between  the  skuUs  of  man  and 
the  quadrumana,  i.  183. 

Bishop,  J.,  on  the  vocal  organs  of  frogs,  ii. 
26 ;  on  the  vocal  organs  of  corvine  birds, 
ii.  52 ;  on  the  trachea  of  the  Merganser, 
ii.  57. 

Bison,  American  mane  of  the  male,  ii.  255. 

Bitterns,  dwarl^  coloration  of  the  sexes  oC 
u.  170. 

Bisiura  lobata,  musky  odor  of  the  male, 
ii.  36 ;  large  size  of  male,  ii.  41. 

Blackbird,  sexual  differences  in  the,  i. 
260;  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the,  i. 
296;  acquisition  of  a  song  by  a,  ii.  52; 
color  of  the  beak  in  the  sexes  of  the,  ii. 
69,  217;  pairing  with  a  thrush,  ii.  109; 
colors  and  nidification  of  the,  ii.  162; 
young  of  the,  ii.  210 ;  sexual  dilfurcnco 
in  coloration  of  the,  ii.  216. 

Black-buck,  Indian,  sexual  difference  in 
the  color  of  the,  ii.  275. 

Blackcap,  arrival  of  the  male,  before  the 
female,  i.  251;  young  of  the,  ii.  210. 

Black-cock,  polygamous,  i.  261 ;  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes  in  the,  i.  297 ;  pugnacity 
and  love-dance  of  the,  ii.  42 ;  call  of  the, 
ii.  5S;  moulting  of  the,  ii.  79;  duration 
of  the  courtship  of  the,  ii.  96;  se.xual 
difference  in  coloration  of  the,  ii.  216; 
crimson  eye-cere  of  the,  ii.  217;  and 
pheasant,  hybrids  o^  ii.  109. 

Black-grouse,  characters  of  young,  ii. 
177, 186. 

Blaokwall,  J.,  on  the  speaking  of  the 
magpie,  i.  57 ;  on  the  desertion  of  their 
young  by  swallows,  i.  80 ;  on  the  supe- 
rior activity  of  male  spiders,  i.  263 ;  on 
the  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  spiders,  i. 
806 ;  on  sexual  variation  of  color  in  spi- 
ders, i.  327 ;  on  male  spiders,  i.  328. 

Bladdek-nosf,  Seal,  hood  of  the,  ii.  265. 

Blaine,  on  the  affections  of  dogs,  ii.  258. 

Blair,  Dr.,  on  the  relative  liability  of  Eu- 
ropeans to  yellow  fever,  i.  234. 

Blake,  C.  C,  on  the  jaw  from  La  Naulette, 
i.  122. 

Blakiston,  Capt,  on  the  American  snipe 
ii.  61 ;  on  the  dances  of  Tetrao  phagia- 
nellus,  ii.  65. 


Blasius,  Dr.,  on  the  species  of  European 
birds,  ii.  119. 

Bled  ins  taiirus,  hornlike  processes  of  male, 
i.  363. 

Bleeding,  tendency  to  profuse,  i.  283. 

Blenkieon,  Mr.,  on  sexual  preference  in 
horses,  ii.  260. 

Blennies,  crest  developed  on  the  head  of 
male  during  the  breeding-season,  ii.  12. 

BUthisa  multipunctata,  stridulation  of,  i. 
368. 

Bloch,  on  the  proportions  of  the  sexes  in 
Fishes,  i.  298. 

Blood,  arterial,  red  color  of,  i.  314. 

Blood-pheasant,  number  of  spurs  in,  ii. 
43. 

Bluebreast,  red-throated,  sexual  differ- 
ences of  the,  ii.  187. 

Blumenbacu,  on  Man,  i.  107;  on  the  large 
size  of  the  nasal  cavities  in  American 
aborigines,  i.  114;  on  the  position  of  man, 
i.  182;  on  the  number  of  species  of  man, 
i.  218. 

Bltth,  E.,  ob.servations  on  Indian  crows, 
i.  74;  on  the  structure  of  the  hand  in 
species  of  If>/!ohate,%  i.  135 ;  on  the  as- 
certainment of  the  sex  of  nestling  bull- 
finches by  pulling  out  breast-feathers,  ii. 
23  ;  on  the  pugnacity  of  the  males  of 
Gallin  uUi  cri-siata,  ii.  39 ;  on  the  pres- 
ence of  spurs  in  the  female  Euploca- 
mu^  erytkrophthalmu.%  ii.  44;  on  the 
pugnacity  of  the  amadavat,  ii.  47 ;  on  the 
spoonbill,  ii.  57 ;  on  the  moulting  of  An- 
thus,  ii.  79 ;  on  the  moulting  of  bustards, 
plovers,  .ind  Galluti  bankiva,  ii.^\  on 
the  Indian  honey-buzzard,  ii.  121;  on 
sexual  differences  in  the  color  or  the  eyes 
of  hornbilLs,  ii.  123 ;  on  Orioltm  melano- 
cephalus,  ii.  170;  on  PaimornU  Javani- 
C218,  ii.  171 ;  on  the  genus  Ardetta,  ii, 
171 ;  on  the  peregrine  fhlcon,  ii.  171 ;  on 
young  female  birds  acquiring  male  char- 
acters, ii.  172;  on  the  immature  plu- 
mage of  birds,  ii.  177;  on  representative 
species  of  birds,  ii.  182 ;  on  the  young  of 
TurnUc,  ii.  193;  on  anomalous  young  of 
Zaniiis  ritfus  and  Coli/mbus  glacialis, 
ii.  202 ;  on  the  sexes  and  young  of  the 
sparrows,  ii.  203 ;  on  dimorphism  in  some 
herons,  ii.  205;  on  orioles  breeding  in 
immature  plumage,  ii.  205;  on  the  sexes 
and  young  of  Buphus  and  Annstomits, 
ii.  208 ;  on  the  young  of  the  blackcap 
and  blackbird,  ii,  210;  on  the  young  of 
the  stonechat,  ii.  211 ;  on  the  white  plu- 
mage of  Aiuistonnts,  ii.  219 ;  on  the  horns 
of  AntUope  beeoartica,  ii.  235 ;  on  the 
horns  of  Bovine  animals,  ii.  236;  on  the 
mode  of  fighting  of  Om«  ot/clooeros,  ii. 
238 ;  on  the  voice  of  the  Gibbons,  ii.  263 ; 
on  the  crest  of  the  male  wild-goat,  ii. 
268;  on  the  colors  of  Portax  picta.,  ii. 
274 ;  on  the  colors  of  AntUope  bezoar- 
tica,  ii.  275 ;  on  the  development  of  the 
horns  in  the  Koodoo  and  Eland  ante- 
lopes, i.  279 ;  on  the  color  of  the  Axis 
deer,  ii.  276;  on  sexual  difference  of  color 


394 


INDEX. 


In  TTijlohate*  hoolocl;  W.  277 ;  on  the 
•  hojf-deer,  ii.  i^O;  on  tlio  beard  and  wlils- 
kors  in  the  monkey  bcconiinp  white 
\\\Cx  a>re,  II.  304. 

Boar,  wild,  polytramous  In  Indi.i,  1.  2.'>9; 
use  of  the  tusks  by  the,  Ii.  24>') :  flghtlnp 
of,  Ii.  2M. 

BoiTARD  and  Corbi6,  MM.,  on  the  trans- 
iiii.s.Hion  of  Re.vual  pooulinrities  in  pipcons, 
I.  274 ;  on  the  antipathy  shown  by  some 
female  plfjeons  to  certain  males,  Ii.  114. 

Boi.n.  Mr.,  on  the  singing  of  a  sterile  hy- 
brid canary,  ii.  .'30. 

BoMnET,  on  "the  variability  of  the  standard 
of  beauty  in  Kurope.  11.854. 

Jioni/»ui,  <liffercnce  of  the  se.xes  In,  I.  S.'i.'i. 

BoMiiYciu.t.  coloration  of;  L  382;  pairing 
of  the,  I.  38S. 

Bomhj/cilla  Carolmetm«,  red  appendages 
of  ii.  171. 

Bomhifr  cijnfhia.  I.  ."Wfi;  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in,"  i.  Mill).  R1I4;  pairing  of,  I.  .SSS. 

Bomhifx  inori,  (li!)erince  of  size  of  the 
male  and  female  cocoons  of;  I.  335;  pair- 
ing ot  i.  388. 

Bomhyor  Pemyi,  proportion  of  sexes  of,  I. 
804. 

Bomhyx  Yamomni.\.^fi\  M.  Personn.at 
on,  i.  301 ;  proportion  of  sexes  of;  i.  304. 

Bonaparte,  f.  L.,  on  the  call-notes  of  the 
wild-turkey,  Ii.  58. 

Bond,  F.,  on'  the  finding  of  new  mates  by 
crows,  II.  100. 

Bone,  Implements  of;  skill  displayed  in 
making,  I.  l.SS. 

Boner,  0.,  on  the  transfer  of  male  charac- 
ters to  an  old  female  chamois,  il.  234;  on 
the  antlers  of  the  red  deer,  Ii.  241 ;  on  the 
habits  of  stTgs.  ii.  248 ;  on  the  pairing  of 
red  deer,  ii.  2.^6. 

Bones,  lnerea,se  of.  In  length  and  thick- 
ness, when  carrying  a  greater  weight,  I. 

Bonnet,  monkey,  I.  185. 

BoOMERANO,  i.  176. 

Boreiw  fiyemalU,  scarcity  of  the  male,  1. 

306. 
BoRV  St.  Vincent,  on  the  number  of  species 

of  man,  I.  218;  on  the  colors  of  Labfus 

paro,  ii.  15. 
BoK  (/niirujt,  horns  of,  Ii.  236. 
Bon  primineniim,  ii.  229. 
Bom  Moni/aicHS,  horns  of;  il.  2-36;  colors  of, 

ii.  27.'). 
BoTocunoR.  I.  174;  mode  of  life  of.  1.  237; 

disfigurement  of  the  ears  and  lower  lip 

of  the.  ii.  .325. 
Boucher  de  Perthes,  J.  C.  dc,  on  the  an- 
tiquity of  man,  1.  3. 
Bourbon,   proportion   of  the  sexes  In   a 

species  of^  Pupil io  from,  i.  301. 
BouRiKN,  on  the  marriage-customs  of  the 

savages  of  the  Malay  Archipelago,   ii. 

357. 
Bovip.E.  dewlaps  of,  il.  270. 
BowEK-niui>8,  ii.  98;  habits  of  the,  II.  CO; 

ornamented   plaving-places  of;  1.  61,  il. 

108. 


Bows,  nse  of.  I.  224. 

BnArmoi'ODA.  I.  315. 

BRAnivrEPiiAi.ir  structure,  possible  ex- 
planation of,  I.  142. 

Briich  i/Hcehix,  second  pair  of  antennte  In 
the  male,  i.  327. 

BRAnivfRA,  I.  328. 

Bracln/uru-H  ciilru*,  scarlet  fhce  o£  il.  295. 

Brain,  of  man,  agreement  of  the.  with  that 
of  lower  animals,  1. 10;  convolutions  o£ 
In  the  human  fietus,  I.  16;  larger  in 
some  existing  mammals  than  In  their 
tertiary  prototypes,  I.  49;  relation  of  the 
development  of  the,  to  the  progress  of 
language,  1.  ."JS;  disea.se  of  tlie,  affecting 
speech.  I.  56;  Influence  of  development 
of  ment-il  faculties  upon  the  size  of  the, 
1. 140;  Influence  of  the  development  ol, 
on  the  spinal  column  and  skull,  I.  141 ; 
dilTerencc  In  the  convolutions  of;  in  dif- 
ferent races  of  men,  i.  208. 

Brakenriixje.  Dr.,  on  the  Influence  of 
climate,  i.  111. 

BRAUBAcn,  Prof,  on  the  quasi-religious 
feeling  of  a  dog  toward  his  master,  I.  66; 
on  the  self-restraint  of  dogs.  I.  7.5. 

Beauer,  F.,  on  diinoriihism  in  Xeuroth«- 
min.  I.  .3.52. 

Brazil,  skulls  found  In  caves  of  1.  210; 
population  of  i.  216;  compression  of  the 
nose  by  the  natives  of  ii.  335. 

Break  between  man  and  the  apes.  i.  192. 

Bream,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the,  1. 
299. 

Breeding,  age  of,  in  birds,  ii.  205. 

Breeding  sea.son.  .sexual  characters  mak- 
ing their  appearance  in  the,  In  birds,  II. 
78. 

BREint,  on  the  effects  of  intoxicating  liq- 
uors on  monkeys,  i.  12;  on  the  recogni- 
tion of  women  by  male  Cynoi-ephali.  I. 
13 ;  on  revenge  taken  by  monkeys,  1.  .39 ; 
on  manifestations  of  maternal  afft-ction 
by  monkeys  and  baboons,  i.  .39;  on  the 
Instinctive  dread  of  monkeys  for  ser- 
pents, I.  41 ;  on  a  baboon  using  a  mat  for 
shelter  fW)m  the  sun.  1.  51 ;  on  the  use  of 
sttmes  as  missiles  by  baboons,  1.  50 ;  on 
the  signal-eries  of  "monkeys,  i.  55;  on 
sentinels  posted  by  monkeys,  I.  71 ;  on 
coiiperation  of  animals,  i. "  72 ;  on  an 
eagle  attiicking  a  young  Cercopithecun, 
i.  73;  on  baboons  in  confinement  pro- 
tecting one  of  their  numtHT  from  pun- 
ishment, I.  75;  on  the  habits  of  baboons 
when  i>lundering,  I.  75;  on  the  diversity 
of  the  mental  faculties  of  monkevs.  i. 
106;  on  the  habits  of  baboons,  I.  13i);  on 
polvgamy  in  Cyii(ici/>fi(i/iiM  and  ty/ms 
1.  2b8;  on  the  numerical  proportion  ol^ 
the  sexes  in  binls,  i.  297 ;  on  the  love 
dance  of  the  Black -cwk,  Ii.  Hi;  on  Pala- 
medea  connita,  11.  45;  on  the  habits 
of  the  Black-grouse,  ii.  46;  on  sound 
pixMluced  by  Hirds  of  Paradise,  ii.  60;  on 
assembl.iges  of  grouse,  11.  97;  on  the 
finding  of  new  mates  by  bird.s,  Ii.  102; 
on  the  fighting  of  wild-boars,  Ii.  261 ;  on 


INDEX. 


395 


the  habits  of  Cynocephaliis  hamadryaa, 
ii.  346. 

Brent,  Mr.,  on  the  courtship  of  fowls,  ii. 
113. 

Breslait,  numerical  proportion  of  male 
and  female  births  in,  i.  '291. 

Bridgmam,  Laura,  i.  55. 

Brimstone  butterfly,  i.  380;  sexual  diifer- 
ence  of  color  in  the,  1.  396. 

British,  ancient,  tattooing  practised  by,  ii. 
323. 

Broca,  Prof.,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  su- 
pra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  human  hu- 
merus, i.''23  ;  on  the  capacity  of  Parisian 
skulls  at  different  periods,  i.  1-tO ;  on  the 
influence  of  natural  selection,  i.  146 ;  on 
hybridity  in  man.  i.  212;  on  human  re- 
mains from  Les  Eyzies,  i.  228 ;  on  the 
cause  of  the  difl'erence  between  Euro- 
peans and  Hindoos,  i.  231. 

Brodie,  Sir  B.,  on  the  origin  of  the  moral 
sense  in  man,  i.  60. 

Bkonn,  H.  G.,  on  the  copulation  of  insects 
of  distinct  species,  i.  332. 

Bronze  period,  men  of,  in  Europe,  i. 
154. 

Brown,  E.,  sentinels  of  seals  generally  fe- 
males, i.  71;  on  the  battles  of  seals,  ii. 
229;  on  the  narwhal,  ii.  231 ;  on  the  oc- 
casional absence  of  the  tusks  in  the  fe- 
male walrus,  ii.  231 ;  on  the  bladder-nose 
seal,  ii.  265 ;  on  the  colors  of  the  sexes  in 
Phoca  Gr(K,nlandioa^i\.'i,Ti\  on  the  ap- 
preciation of  music  by  seals,  ii.  317 ;  on 
plants  used  as  love-philters,  by  North 
American  women,  ii.  328. 

Brown-Seqitaed,  Dr.,  on  the  inheritance 
of  the  effects  of  operations  by  guinea- 
pigs,  ii.  364. 

Bruce,  on  the  use  of  the  elephant's  tusks, 
ii.  237. 

Brulerie,  p.  de  la,  on  the  habits  ot  Ateit- 
chus  cicatricomis,  i.  365;  on  the  stridu- 
lation  of  Ateuchus,  i.  373. 

Beunnicii,  on  the  pied  ravens  of  the  Feroe 
islands,  ii.  121. 

Bryant,  Captain,  on  the  courtship  of 
C<i/li)r7uiitw  ursinu-%  ii.  257. 

Sulxin  UiKoti,  thoracic  projection  of^  i.  361. 

Bucephalus  capensis,  difference  of  the 
sexes,  of  in  color,  ii.  28. 

BiKeros,  nidification  and  incubation  of;  ii. 
161. 

Buceros  bieornis,  sexual  differences  in  the 
coloring  of  the  casque,  beak,  and  mouth 
in,  ii.  123. 

Buceros  comtgatus,  sexual  difference  in 
the  beak  of,  ii.  69. 

Buchnek,  L.,  on  the  origin  of  man,  i.  4 ; 
on  the  want  of  self-consciousness,  etc.,  in 
low  savages,  i.  60;  on  the  use  of  the 
human  foot  as  a  prehensile  organ,  i.  130; 
on  the  mode  of  progression  of  the  apes, 
1. 137. 

BroKLANi),  F,,  on  the  numerical  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes  in  rats,  i.  296 ;  on  the 
proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the  trout,  i. 
299 ;  on  Ghimcera  monstrosa,  ii.  12. 


BtrcKLAND,  "W.,  on  the  complexity  of  cri- 
noids,  i.  59. 

Buckler,  W.,  proportion  of  sexes  of  Lepi- 
doptera  reared  by,  i.  304. 

BucKiNGiiAJisHiRE,  numerical  proportion 
of  male  and  female  births  in,  i.  291. 

Bucorax  Abyssinicua,  inflation  of  the 
neck-wattle  of  the  male,  during  court- 
ship, ii.  69. 

Budytes  Rati,  i.  251. 

Buffalo,  Cape,  ii.  239. 

Buffalo,  Indian,  horns  of  the,  ii.  236. 

Buffalo,  Italian,  mode  of  fighting  of  the, 
ii.  2:39. 

Buffon,  on  the  number  of  species  of  man, 
i.  218. 

Bugs,  i.  339. 

Buist,  E.,  on  the  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in  salmon,  i.  299;  on  the  pugnacity  of 
the  male  salmon,  ii.  3. 

Bulbul,  pugnacity  of  the  male,  ii.  89; 
display  of  under  tail-coverts  by  the  male, 
ii.  91. 

Bull,  mode  of  fighting  of  the,  ii.  238; 
curled  frontal  hair  of  the,  ii.  269. 

Bullfinch,  sexual  differences  in  the,  i. 
260;  piping,  ii.  50;  female,  singing  of 
the,  ii,  51 ;  courtship  of  the,  ii.  90 ;  wid- 
owed, finding  a  new  mate,  ii.  101 :  at- 
tacking a  reed-bunting,  ii.  106;  nestling, 
sex  ascertained  by  pulling  out  breast- 
feathers,  ii.  205. 

Bullfinches  distinguishing  persons,  ii. 
105;  rivalry  of  female,  ii.  Ii6. 

Bulls,  two  young,  attacking  an  old  one, 
i.  72 ;  wild,"  battles  of.  ii.  229. 

Bull-trout,  male,  coloring  of,  during  the 
breeding  season,  ii.  14. 

Bunting,  reed,  head  feathers  of  the  male, 
ii.  91 ;  attacked  by  a  bullfinch,  ii.  106. 

Buntings,  characters  of  young,  ii.  176. 

Buphus  coromandus,  sexes  and  young  o^ 
ii.  208;  change  of  color  in,  ii.  221,  222. 

BuECHELL,  Dr.,  on  the  zebra,  ii.  288;  on 
the  extravagance  of  a  Bushwoman  in 
adorning  herself,  ii.  327;  celibacy  un- 
known among  the  savages  of  South 
Africa,  ii.  350 ;  on  the  marriage-customs 
of  the  Bush  women,  ii.  357. 

Burke,  on  the  number  of  species  of  man, 
i.  218. 

Burmese,  color  of  the  beard  in.  ii.  304. 

Burton,  Captain,  on  negro  ideas  of  female 
beauty,  ii.  330 ;  on  a  universal  ideal  of 
beauty,  ii.  334. 

Bushmen,  i.  151. 

Bushwoman,  extravagant  ornamentation 
ofa,  ii.  327. 

BusHwo.MEN,  hair  of,  i.  208 ;  marriage-cus- 
toms of,  ii.  3.58. 

Busk.  Prof.  O.,  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
supra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  human 
humerus,  i.  28. 

Bustard,  throat-pouch  of  the  male,  ii.  55; 
humming  noise  produced  by  a  male,  ii. 
62;  Indian,  ear-tufts  ofa,  ii.  70. 

Bustards,  oeeuiTence  of  sexual  differences 
and  of  polygamy  among  the,  i.  260 ;  love- 


396 


INDEX. 


postures  of  the  ranic,  il.  65;  double  moult 
iu,  li.  78,  80. 

Bi'Ti.ER.  A.  O.,  on  sexunl  dilToronees  in  tho 
wind's  of  Arieoria  ej/itim^  i.  335;  on  tho 
coloring  of  the  sexes  in  speoies  of  Theclii, 
i.  377;  on  the  reseinbhince  of  Iphiat 
(ihntcippe  to  n  leaf,  i.  3S1 ;  on  the  rejec- 
tion of  certain  motlis  and  caterpillars  by 
liz;u-<l8  and  fi-ojrs,  i.  404. 

BrxTERKLY,  noise  produced  by  a,  1.  375; 
Emperor,  i.  374.  376 ;  meadow  brown,  in- 
stability of  the  ocelhitcd  spots  of  ii.  127. 

Bl'TTKKKLlKS.  proportion  of  the  sexes  in.  i. 
.100;  fore-U'trs  .itn>iilii((l  in  some  male.  i. 
8;J4;  sexual  dilHrfnee  in  the  neuration 
of  the  wintrs  of,  i.  335;  pufrn.icity  of 
male,  i,  374 ;  protective  resemblances  of 
the  lower  surface  of  i.  379;  displ.iy  of 
the  wind's  by,  i.  384;  white,  aliirhting' 
upon  liits  of  paper,  i.  387 ;  attracted  t)y  a 
dead  specimen  of  the  same  species,  i.  387; 
courtslii|)  of  i.  3'^7:  male  and  female,  in- 
habitint:  ditlcriMt  stations,  i.  389. 

Buxton,  C.  obsirvations  on  macaws,  i.  73; 
on  an  instiince  of  benevolence  in  a  parrot, 
ii.  105. 

Bu7.7..\RD,  Indian  honey-,  variation  in  the 
crest  of,  ii.  121. 

O, 

Cabhaoe  butterflies,  i.  381, 

Cachalot,  larjre  head  of  the  male.  ii.  231. 

Cadences,  iimsical,  perception  of,  by  ani- 
mals, ii.  317. 

Cecum,  i.  2C;  larjre,  in  the  early  progeni- 
tors of  man,  i.  198. 

Cairina  mottcfuita,  pugnacitj-  of  the  male, 
ii.  89, 

Calliiina/u>a,  chela?  of  flfrured,  i.  820. 

Callionymux  li/ra,  characters  of  the  male, 
ii.  7. 

Collorhiniid  vrftimis,  relative  size  of  the 
sexes  of,  il.  248 ;  c-ourtship  of  ii.  257. 

Cai.mucks,  aversion  of  to  hairs  on  the 
face,  ii.  332 ;  marriage-customs  of  the,  ii, 
3.56. 

Caloten  nigrihihris,  sexual  difiference  in 
the  color  of  ii.  34. 

Cambridge,  O.  Pickard,  on  the  sexes  of 
spiders,  i.  306. 

Camel,  canine  teeth  of  male,  ii.  280.  246, 

Campbell,  J.,  on  the  Indian  eleph.int,  I, 
2iJ9;  on  the  proportion  of  male  and  fe- 
male births  in  the  harems  of  Siam.  i,  294. 

Cam/>>//iijit('riix  In  i»i/iiiciiriix.  i.  298. 

Canaries  distiniruishintr  persons,  ii.  106. 

Canary,  polygamy  of  the,  i.  261 ;  change 
of  plumage  in,  alter  moulting,  i.  2ivt;  fe- 
male, selecting  the  best  singing  male,  ii. 
49 ;  sterile  hybrid,  singing  of  a,  ii.  50 ;  fe- 
male, sinking  ol  the,  ii.  51 ;  selecting  a 
greenfinch,  ii.  110;  and  siskin,  pairing  ofl 
ii.  110. 

Caudal  vertebrte,  number  of  in  macaques 
and  baboons,  i.  144;  b-isal,  of  monkeys, 
embedded  in  the  bo<ly,  i.  14,5. 

Canestrini,  G.,  on  rudimentary  characters 


and  the  origin  of  man,  i.  4;  on  rudiment- 
aiT  characters,  i.  17,  on  the  movement 
of  tho  ear  in  man,  i.  20;  on  the  vari.ibility 
of  the  vermiform  appendage  in  man,  1. 
27;  on  the  abnonnal  (livision  of  the  malar 
bone  in  man,  i.  119;  on  abnormal  condi- 
tions of  the  human  uterus,  i.  119;  on  tho 
persistence  of  the  frontal  suture  in  man, 
1.  120;  on  the  projwrtion  of  the  sexes  in 
silk-moths,  i.  300,  302. 

Canine  teeth  in  man,  I.  121 ;  diminution 
of  in  man,  i.  139;  diminution  ot,  in 
horses,  i.  139;  disappearance  of  in  male 
ruminant,s.  i.  139;  large,  in  the  early  pro- 
genitors of  man,  i.  198. 

CANI.VE.S,  and  horns,  inverse  development 
of  ii.  245. 

Canoes,  use  of  i.  132,  226, 

Cantlmrh,  dilference  of  color  in  the  sexes 
of  a  species  of  i.  355. 

Capercailzie,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in 
the.  i.  297 ;  pugnacity  of  the  male,  ii.  42 ; 
l)ali-liig  of  the,  ii.  47;  autumn  meetings 
of  the,  ii.  .52;  call  of  the,  ii.  58;  duration 
of  the  court.ship  of  ii.  96 ;  behavior  of  the 
female,  ii.  116;  inconvenience  of  black 
color  to  the  female,  ii.  147;  sexual  dilfer- 
ence in  coloration  of  the,  ii.  216;  crimson 
eye-cere  of  the  male,  ii.  217 ;  polygamous, 
i,  269, 

Capital,  i,  16.3. 

Capitonidx,  colors  and  nidlfication  of  the, 
ii.  163. 

Copra  (vgagrrm.  ii.  238 ;  crest  of  the  male, 
ii.  26S ;  sexual  difference  in  the  color  o^ 
ii.  27.5. 

Capreo/ufi  Sibiricu«  mihecatulatux.  ii.  281. 

Caprice,  common  to  man  and  animals,  i. 
62. 

Caprhnulflftx.  noise  made  by  the  males  of 
some  species  of  with  their  wings,  ii.  .59. 

Cttprimulyus  Viiginianitg,  paiiing  ot;  iL 
47. 

Carabid.e,  bright  colors  of  i.  355. 

Carbonnier,  on  the  natural  history  of  tho 
j)ike,  i.  299 ;  on  the  relative  size  of  the 
sexes  in  fishes,  ii.  7. 

Carfineutt.%  sexual  difiference  of  color  in, 
ii.  165. 

Carcinm  m<F7)as,  i.  322,  323, 

CarduelU  elefians^  sexual  differences  of 
the  beak  in,  ii.  37. 

Carnitora.  marine,  polysramous  habits  o^ 
i.  2.')9  ;  sexual  diU'erenceS  in  the  colors  ot 
ii.  273. 

Carp,  numerical  proportion  of  the  sexes  in 
the.  i.  299. 

Carr.  K..  on  the  peewit,  ii.  46. 

Carkikr  pigeon,  late  development  of  the 
wattle  in  the.  i.  284. 

Carrion  beetles,  sti-idulation  of  i.  367. 

Carus,  Pi-of  v.,  on  the  development  of  the 
liorns  in  merino  sheep,  i.  280. 

Cassowary,  sexes  and  incubation  of  the, 
ii.  195. 

Castoreum,  ii.  266, 

Caxuiifiun  ffiileiitii.'i,  ii.  1915. 

Cat,  convoluted  body  in  the  extremity  of 


INDEX. 


397 


the  tail  of  a,  i.  29  ;  sick,  sympathy  of  a 
dog  wth  a,  i.  74. 

Cataeact  in  Cebvs  Aearm,  i.  12. 

Catarrh,  liability  of  Cebns  Asarce  to,  i.  11. 

Catarkhine  monkeys,  i.  ISS. 

Caterpillars,  bright  colors  ot,  i.  402. 

Cathartes  aura,  ii.  111. 

Cathartes  jota,  love-gestures  of  the  male, 
ii.  65. 

Catlin,  G.,  on  the  development  of  the 
beard  among  North  American  Indians, 
ii.  307 ;  on  the  great  length  of  the  hah-  in 
some  North  American  tribes,  ii.  Sol. 

Caton,  J.  D.,  on  the  development  of  the 
horns  in  Cervtis  Virginian  us  and  stron- 
gyloceros,  i.  279 ;  on  the  presence  of 
traces  of  horns  in  the  female  wapiti,  ii. 
234 ;  on  the  fighting  of  deer,  ii.  241 ;  on 
the  crest  of  the  male  wapiti,  ii.  26S ;  on 
the  colors  of  the  Virginian  deer,  ii.  274 ; 
on  sexual  dilferences  of  color  in  the  wa- 
piti, ii.  276 ;  on  the  spots  of  the  Yirginian 
deer,  ii.  289. 

Cats,  dreaming,  i.  44 ;  tortoise-shell,  i.  274, 
276,  283 ;  enticed  by  valerian,  ii.  268 ;  col- 
ors of,  ii.  285. 

Cattle,  domestic,  sexual  differences  of, 
late  developed,  i.  281 ;  rapid  increase  of, 
in  South  America,  i.  130 ;  domestic, 
lighter  in  winter  in  Siberia,  i.  273 ;  horns 
o^  i.  278,  ii.  236;  numerical  proportion 
of  the  sexes  in,  i.  295. 

CV6««,  maternal  affection  in  a,  i.  39 ;  grada- 
tion of  species  of  i.  219. 

Cebiis  Ascirce,  liability  of,  to  the  same  dis- 
eases as  man,  i.  11 ;  distinct  sounds  pro- 
duced by.  i.  52 ;  early  maturity  of  the  fe- 
male, ii.  303. 

Cebus  capucintis,  polygamous,  i.  258 ;  sex- 
ual differences  of  color  in,  ii.  277 ;  hair  on 
the  head  of,  ii.  291. 

CehxiB  vellerosus,  hair  on  the  head  ol^  ii. 
291. 

CEcrooMTiD^  proportion  of  the  sexes  in, 
i.  305. 

Celibacy,  unknown  among  the  savages  of 
South  Afi-ica  and  South  America,  ii.  350. 

Centipedes,  i.  330. 

Cephalopoda,  absence  of  secondary  sex- 
ual characters  in,  i.  316. 

Cephalopterua  ornatux,  ii.  55-57. 

CephalopteriDi  peiuhiliger,  ii.  57. 

Cerambyx  heros,  stridulant  organ  ot,  1. 
368. 

Ceratophora  aspera.  nasal  appendages  o^ 
ii.  32. 

Ceratophora  Stoddartii,  nasal  horn  of,  ii. 
32. 

Cerceri«,  habits  of  i.  353. 

Cercocebus  J&hiops,  whiskers,  etc.,  o^  ii. 
295. 

Cercopithecus,  young,  seized  by  an  eagle 
and  rescued  by  the  troop,  i.  73 ;  definition 
of  species  oi^  i.  219. 

Cercopithecus  cep/iu.%  gexual  difference  of 
color  in,  ii.  277,  296. 

Cercopit/ieeuf:  ct/nomtrvs  and  grineo-viri- 
din,  color  of  the  scrotum  in,  ii.  277. 


CercopitJifcxis  Diana,   sexual  differences 

of  color  in,  u.  277,  296,  297. 
Cercopithecus  griseo-viridis,  i.  72. 
Cercopithecus  petaurista,  whiskers,  etc., 

of,  ii.  293. 
Ceres,  of  birds,  bright  colors  of^  ii.  217. 
Ceriornis   Te>nminckii,   sweUing  of  the 

wattles  of  the  male  during  courtship,  ii. 

68. 
Cermilus,  weapons  of,  ii.  245. 
Cenndv^  moschatvs,  rudimentary  horns 

of  the  female,  ii.  234. 
Cermts  alces,  i.  279. 
Cervus  campestris,  odor  of,  ii.  266. 
Cervtis  Canadensis,  traces  of  horns  in  the 

female,  ii.  234;  attacking  a  man,  ii.  242; 

sexual  difference  in  the  color  of,  ii.  276. 
Cerviis  elajihus,   battles  of  male,  ii.  229; 

horns  of,  with  numerous  points,  ii,  241. 
Cerinis  Ekli.  i.  279. 
Cervim  mantehuricus,  ii.  289. 
Cervus  paludo»us,  colors  of  ii.  276. 
Cervus  strongyloceros,  i.  279. 
Cermis  Virginianus,  i.  279;  horns  o^  in 

course  of  modification,  ii.  243. 
Ceryle.  male  black-belted  in  some  species 

of,  ii.  165. 
Cetacea,  nakedness  of,  i  142. 
Ceylon,  frequent  absence  of  beard  in  the 

natives  of,  ii.  306. 
Chaffinch,  proportion  of  the  se.xes  in  the, 

i.  297,  298 ;  courtship  of  the,  ii.  90. 
Chaffinches,  ii.  51 ;  new  mates  found  by, 

u.  101. 
Chalcophaps  Indicus,  characters  of  young, 

ii.  177. 
Chalcod&ma  atlas,  sexual  differences  of  i. 

857. 
Chetmceleon,    sexual    differences    in    the 

genu.s,  ii.  32. 
Chamwleon  bifurcus,  ii.  32,  34. 
Ch<t»uvleon  Otvenii,  ii.  33,  34. 

CUA-MELEONS,  ii.  31. 

Chamois,  danger-signals  o^  i.  71 ;  transfer 
of  male  characters  to  an  old  female,  ii. 
233. 

Cha7H(Tpetes  nnicolor,  modified  wing- 
feather  in  the  male,  ii.  61. 

Chapuis,  Dr.,  on  the  transmission  of  sex- 
ual peculiarities  in  pigeons,  i.  274;  on 
sti-eaked  Belgian  pigeons,  i.  284,  ii. 
150. 

Char,  male,  coloring  o^  during  the  breed 
ing-season,  ii.  13. 

Characters,  male,  developed  in  females, 
i.  271 ;  natural,  artificial  exaggeration  o^ 
by  man,  ii.  335;  secondary  sexual,  trans 
mitted  through  both  sexes,  i.  270. 

Charadrius  hiaticula  and  pluviaMs, 
sexes  and  j'oung  of,  ii.  207. 

Chardin  on  the  Persians,  ii.  340. 

Charms,  worn  by  women,  ii.  328. 

Charruas,  treedom  of  divorce  among  the. 
ii.  356. 

Chasmorhynchns,  difference  of  color  in 
the  sexes  of  ii.  75;  colors  of,  ii.  218. 

Chastity,  early  estimation  of,  i.  92. 

Chatterers,  sexual  differences  in,  i.  260. 


398 


INDEX. 


riiEiBopTERA,  absence  of  necondnry  sex- 
ual clianu-ters  in,  i.  '259. 

CiiKi..f:  of  cru.stace.1,  i.  320,  827. 

CiiEi.oNiA,  sexual  differences  in,  il.  2C. 

Chenulopex  yEgi/ptiaciis,  wing-knobs  o^ 
ii.  44. 

Chera  progne.  il.  80,  116. 

CuEST,  proiiorlioiis  of,  in  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors, !.  112;  \m-ih\  of  the  Queehiia  and 
Ayinara  Indian.s,  i.  11.5. 

CiiEVRoTAiss,  eanine  teeth  of.  ii.  24C. 

ChidMognathnji,  stridulation  of.  i.  3T2. 

ChiiinoyiKtilnui  Orantii,  mandibles  of,  i. 
806. 

Cuii.DRF.!*,  leffitimate  and  illeRitimato,  pro- 
portion of  the  se.ve3  in,  i.  292. 

C'liii.oE,  lice  of  the  natives  of,  I.  212 ;  popu- 
lation of,  1.  217. 

C/iiiiuvr<i  monxtrosa,  bony  process  on  the 
head  of  the  male,  ii.  12. 

Cui.M.KRoiD  fishes,  prehensile  organs  of 
male,  il.  1. 

Chimpanzke,  ii.  303;  ears  of  the,  1.  21 ;  rep- 
resentiitives  of  the  eyebrows  in  the,  i. 
25;  platforms  built  by  the,  i.  85;  crack- 
ing nuts  with  a  stone,  i.  49  ;  hands  of  the, 
1.  1!33 ;  absence  of  ma.stoid  processes  in 
the.  i.  13S ;  direction  of  the  hair  on  the 
arms  of  the,  i.  1S5;  supposed  evolution 
of  the,  i.  222 ;  polvgamous  and  social 
habits  of  the,  ii.  845." 

China,  North,  idea  of  female  beauty  In,  ii. 
82S. 

CniNA,  Southern,  inhabitants  of,  i.  287. 

Chinese,  use  of  flint  tooKs  by  the,  i.  176; 
dilliculty  of  distinguishing  the  races  of 
the,  i.  207;  color  of  the  beard  in,  ii.  304; 
general  beanllessness  of  the,  ii.  306; 
opinions  of  the,  on  the  appearance  of 
l.uroi)eans  and  Cingalese,  ii.  329,  831; 
compression  of  the  feet  of,  ii.  336. 

CniNsuRDi,  his  opinion  of  beards,  ii.  829, 

sm. 

Chlamydera  macuMa.  ii.  67. 

Chtoeon.  i)edimculated  eyes  of  the  male 

oC  i.  ;«2. 
CMoep/uiffa,  coloration  of  the  sexes  in,  ii. 

170. 
ChloroaxJtu  Taniina  (figured),  I.  ^15. 
Chorda  Dors  a  lis,  i.  199. 
Cuoiroii,  red  beak  of  the.  ii.  217. 
CnRO.MiD.E,  frontal  protuberance  in  male, 

ii.  13 ;  sexual  difference  in  color  of,  ii.  20. 
C hn/Demys picia,  long  claws  of  the  male, 

ii.  27. 
Cfiri/sococcyx,  characters  of  young  of,  ii. 

177. 
C/>r>/8omela  cerealis,  bright  colors  o£  i. 

3.55. 
CHRYSOMELID.E,  stridulatlon  of,  i.  867. 
Cicudii  priiinonn,  i.  341. 
Cuvulii  neji/endeciiti.  i.  341. 
CioAii.F.,  songs  of  the,  i.  340  ;  rudimentary 

sound-organs  in  females  of.  i.  34S. 
Cicatrix  of  a  burn,  causing  modification 

of  the  facial  bones,  i.  141. 
CiriiUi,   frontal    protuberance  of  male,  ij. 

18. 


CiMETifeRE  dn  Snd,  Paris,  I.  28. 
C'inc/omi/ijihus  cruraliH,    large    size    of 

male.  ii.  41. 
CinciuM  oquatictui,  ii.  162. 

Cingalese,  Chinese  opinion  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the,  ii.  329. 

CiHRiPEiiES,  comiilemental  males  ot  i.  247. 

Civilization,  effects  oC  ujion  natural  se- 
lection, i.  164;  influence  ot;  in  the  compe- 
tition of  nations,  L  230. 

Clanging  of  Geese,  etc.,  ii.  49. 

Clapareue,  K.,  on  natural  selection  ap- 
plied to  man,  i.  132. 

Clarke,  on  the  marriage-customs  of  the 
Calmucks.  ii.  .3.57. 

Classikication,  1.  181. 

C'LArs,  C,  on  the  sexes  of  Saphirina,  L 
826. 

Cleft-pat.ate,  inherited,  i.  116. 

ClimacteriK  erythropn,  sexes  o(  ii.  197. 

Climate,  i.  Ill;  cool,  favorable  to  human 
l)rogress.  i.  160;  power  of  supporting  ex- 
tremes of,  by  man,  i.  22S ;  want  of  con- 
nection of  with  color,  i.  232. 

Cloaca,  existence  of  a,  in  the  early  pro- 
genitors of  man,  i.  198. 

Cloacal  pas.sage  existing  in  the  human 
embryo,  i.  17. 

Cut II,  origin  of  the,  i.  225. 

Clucking  of  fowls,  ii.  49. 

Clytiira  i-putu-tata,  stridulation  o^  i.  867. 

Cobra,  ingenuity  of  a,  ii.  29. 

Coccus,  i.  179. 

Coccyx,  i.  28.  29 ;  in  the  human  embryo,  i. 
16;  convoluted  body  at  the  extremity  of 
the,  i.  29;  embedded  in  the  Ixxly.  i.  145. 

CociiiN-CiiiNA,  notions  of  beauty  of  the 
inhabitants  of.  ii.  .329.  3:il. 

Cock,  game,  killing  a  kite,  ii.  42;  blind, 
fed  by  its  companions,  i.  74 ;  comb  and 
wattles  of  the.  ii.  94 ;  preference  sho«Ti 
by  the,  for  young  hens,  ii.  117;  game, 
transparent  zone  in  the  liackles  of  a.  ii. 
130. 

Cock  of  the  rock.  Ii.  96. 

Cockatoos,  ii.  216,  218,  220;  nestling,  ii. 
105;  black,  immature  plumage  oC  ii.  ISO. 

Ccelenterata,  absence  of  secondary  sex- 
ual charaetcpR  in.  i.  .312. 

Coffee,  I'oMdiicss  of  monkeys  for,  i.  12. 

Cold,  supposed  i  ffccts  of,  \'.  113;  power  of 
supporting,  by  man.  i.  229. 

CoLEoi'TER,v,  i.  355;  stridulant  organs  o^ 
discussed,  i.  869. 

Colling  WOOD,  C..  on  the  pugiutcity  of  the 
butterflies  of  Borneo,  i.  375;  on"  butter- 
flies being  attracted  by  a  dead  specimen 
of  the  same  species,  i.  3S7. 

Colombia,  flattened  heads  of  savages  of^  ii. 
324. 

Colonists,  success  of  the  English  as,  i. 
172. 

Coloration,  protective,  in.bii-ds.  ii.  213. 

Color,  supi)osed  to  be  dependent  on  light 
and  heat.  i.  Ill;  correlation  of.  with  im- 
munity from  certain  poisons  and  p.<u«- 
sites.  i.  2;W ;  purpose  of,  in  lepldoptera, 
i.  3&7;  relation  oC,  to  sexual  functions,  in 


INDEX. 


399 


fishes,  ii.  14;  difference  of.  in  the  sexes 
of  snakes,  ii.  27 ;  sexual  differences  of,  in 
lizards,  ii.  34 ;  influence  of,  in  the  pairing 
of  birds  of  different  species,  ii.  Ill;  rela- 
tion of,  to  nidifieation,  il.  159,  164 ;  sexu- 
al differences  of,  in  mammals,  ii.  272, 280 ; 
recognition  of,  by  quadrupeds,  ii.  281 ; 
of  children,  in  different  races  of  man,  ii. 
803 ;  of  the  skin  in  man,  ii.  364. 

Colors,  admired  alike  by  man  and  ani- 
mals, i.  62 ;  bright,  due  to  sexual  selec- 
tion, i.  313 ;  bright,  among  the  lower  ani- 
mals, i.  313,  314;  bright,  protective  to 
butterflies  and  moths,  i.  382 ;  bright,  in 
male  fishes,  ii.  7,  13;  transmission  of,  in 
birds,  Ii.  152. 

CoLQuuouN,  example  of  reasoning  in  a 
retriever,  i.  46. 

Columba  pamerina,  young  of;  ii.  180. 

Colymhus  glacialis,  anomalous  young  of, 
ii.  202. 

Co.MB,  development  ot,  in  fowls,  i.  285. 

Combs  and  wattles  in  male  birds,  ii.  94. 

Community,  preservation  of  variations 
useful  to  the,  by  natural  selection,  i.  149. 

C0MP0SIT.E,  gradation  of  species  among 
the,  i.  219. 

CoMTE,  C,  on  the  expression  of  the  ideal 
of  beauty  by  sculpture,  ii.  363. 

Conditions  of  hfe,  action  of  changed,  upon 
man,  i.  109 ;  influence  of,  on  plumage  of 
bu-ds,  u.  188. 

Condor,  eyes  and  comb  of  the,  ii.  124. 

CoN.TUGATioNS,  Origin  o£  i.  59. 

Conscience,  i.  87, 100 ;  absence  of,  in  some 
criminals,  i.  88. 

Constitution,  difference  of,  in  different 
races  of  men,  i.  208. 

Consumption,  hability  of  Cebug  Azarce  to, 
i.  12 ;  connection  between  complexion 
and,  i.  235. 

Convergence,  i.  221. 

Cooing  of  pigeons  and  doves,  ii.  58. 

Cook,  Captain,  on  the  nobles  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  ii.  340. 

Cope,  E.  D.,  on  the  dinosauria,  i.  196 ;  on 
the  origin  of  genera,  ii.  206. 

Cophotis  ceylanica,  sexual  differences  of 
ii.  31,  34. 

Copris,  i.  359. 

Copris  Jsidis,  sexual  differences  of.  i.  358. 

Copris  lunaris,  stridulation  of,  i.  369. 

Corals,  bright  colors  ot,  i.  313. 

C0EAL-8NAKE8,  ii.  29. 

Cordyln«,  sexual  diflFerence  of  color  in  a 
species  of;  ii.  34. 

Corfu,  habits  of  the  chaffinch  in,  i.  298. 

Cornelius,  on  the  proportions  of  the  sexes 
in  Liicamm  Cerviis,  i.  305. 

Corpora  Wolfpiana,  i.  199;  agreement 
of,  with  the  kidneys  of  fishes,  1. 16. 

Correlated  variation,  1.  125. 

Correlation,  influence  of;  in  the  produc- 
tion of  races,  i.  238. 

Corse,  on  the  mode  of  fighting  of  the  ele- 
phant, ii.  245. 

Cornis  corone,  ii.  100. 

Corvua  graculua,  red  beak  of,  ii.  217. 


Cornun  pica,  nuptial  assembly  o^  ii.  98. 
Corydalis    cornutue,  large  jaws  of  tho 
male,  i.  332. 

Cofrmetarnis,  ii.  173. 

Cosmetomis  veayillarttis,  elongation  of 
wing-feathers  in,  ii.  69,  92. 

C0TINGID.E,  sexual  differences  in,  i.  260; 
coloration  of  the  sexes  of,  ii.  169;  resem- 
blance of  the  females  of  distinct  species 
ot,  ii.  184. 

Cottus  scorpiiis,  sexual  dififerences  in,  ii.  9. 

Counting,  origin  of,  i.  174 ;  limited  power 
of,  in  primeval  man,  i.  226. 

Courage,  variabiUty  of,  in  the  same  spe- 
cies, i.  39 ;  universal  high  appreciation 
of;  i.  91 ;  importance  of;  i.  156;  a  charac- 
teristic of  men,  ii.  313. 

Courtship,  greater  eagerness  of  males  in, 
i.  263 ;  of  fishes,  ii.  2 ;  of  bu-ds,  u.  47,  96. 

Cow,  winter  change  of  the,  ii.  284. 

Crab,  devil,  i.  323. 

Crab,  shore  habits  of;  i.  322. 

Crabro  cribrariu^,  dflated  tibiae  of  the 
male,  i.  333. 

Crabs,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in,  i.  307. 

Cranz,  on  the  inheritance  of  dexterity  in 
seal-catching,  i.  113. 

Crawfurd,  on  the  number  of  species  of 
man,  i.  218. 

CrenUabrus  masa  and  <7.  melopa,  nests 
built  by,  ii.  19. 

Crest,  origin  of,  in  Polish  fowls,  i.  275. 

Crests,  of  birds,  ditl'erence  of,  in  the  sexes, 
ii.  ISl ;  dorsal  hairy,  of  mammals,  ii.  268. 

Cricket,  field-,  stridulation  of  the,  i.  342 ; 
pugnacity  of  male,  i.  349. 

Cricket,  house-,  stridulation  of  the,  i.  342, 
349. 

Crickets,  sexual  differences  in,  i.  350. 

Ceioceridx,  stridulation  of  the,  i.  367. 

Ceinoidb,  complexity  oi,  i.  59. 

Croaking  of  frogs,  ii.  25. 

Crocodiles,  musky  odor  of;  during  the 
breeding-season,  ii.  27. 

Crocodilia,  ii.  27. 

Crossbills,  characters  of  young,  ii.  176. 

Crosses  in  man,  i.  217. 

Crossing  of  races,  effects  of  the,  i.  232. 

Orossoptilon  auHtum,  ii.  89,  158,  187; 
adornment  of  both  sexes  of;  i.  280 ;  sexes 
aUke  in,  ii.  170. 

Crotch,  G.  K.,  on  the  stridulation  of  bee- 
tles, i.  367,  370 ;  on  the  stridulation  of 
Eeliopathes,  i.  372 ;  on  the  stiidulation 
otAcalles,  1.912. 

Crow  Indians,  long  hair  of  the,  ii.  331. 

Crow,  young  of  the,  ii.  200. 

Crows,  ii.  216;  vocal  organs  of  the,  ii.  52; 
h\ing  in  triplets,  ii.  102. 

Crows,  canion,  new  mates  found  by,  ii. 
100. 

Crows,  Indian,  feeding  their  blind  com- 
panions, i.  74. 

Cruelty  of  savages  to  animals,  i.  91. 

Crustacea,  amphipod,  males  sexually  ma- 
ture while  young,  ii.  206 ;  parasitic,  loss 
of  Umbs  by  female,  i.  247;  prehensile 
feet  and  antenna  ot,  i.  248 ;  male,  more 


400 


INDEX. 


acHve  than  female,  I.  268 ;  parthenogen- 
esis In,  i.  807 ;  Bccondurj'  sexual  charac- 
ters of,  i.  818;  auditory  hairs  of  ii.  817. 

Crystal  worn  in  the  lower  lip  by  some 
Central  African  women,  ii.  825. 

Cuckoo  fowls,  1.  2S5. 

CiLirin^,  i.  246,  889. 

Ciii-LEN,  Dr.,  on  the  throat-pouch  of  the 
male  Inistanl,  ii.  5,5. 

Cultivation  of  iilants,  probable  origin  o£ 
i.  161. 

CuppLKS,  Mr.,  on  the  numerical  proportion 
of  the  se.xes  in  (lops,  sheep,  and  cattle,  i. 
294,295;  on  the  Scotch  deerhound,  il. 
249 ;  on  sc.vual  preference  in  dogs,  ii. 
259. 

CuRCULiONrD.E,  Bcxual  difference  in  length 
of  snout  In  some,  i.  247 ;  hornlike  pro- 
cesses in  male,  i.  862;  musical,  i.  366, 
868. 

CcniosiTT,  manifestations  of,  by  animals, 
i.  41. 

Curlews,  double  moult  in,  ii.  77. 

CuRsouEs.  comparative  absence  of  sexual 
ditference  among  the,  i.  261. 

Curtis.  J.,  on  the  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in  Athalia,  i.  811.5. 

CuviER,  F.,  on  the  recognition  of  women 
by  male  quadrumana,  i.  1.3. 

CuviEU,  G.,  views  of.  as  to  the  position  of 
man,  i.  183;  on  in.stinct  and  intelligence, 
i.  86;  on  the  number  of  caudal  vertcbne 
in  the  mandrill,  i.  144;  on  the  position  of 
the  seals,  i.  183;  on  lfe<;tocot>/le.  i.  816. 

Ciinneeula  suecica,  sexual  differences  of 
ii.  187. 

Ci/aniilci/on.  sexual  difference  in  colors 
of,  ii.  16,5;  imiuatnre  plumage  of.  ii.  180. 

Ci/c/ifun,  sounds  produced  by.  i.  370. 

Ci/cinia  mend  tea,  sexual  difference  of  col- 
or in,  i.  386. 

Ci/gnua  feitix,  trachea  ot^  ii.  57. 

Oi/ffnitK  olor,  white  young  of.  ii.  202. 

Ci/tio  Leila,  instability  of  the  ocellated 
sjjots  of,  ii.  127. 

Ci/iiantAtta,  variation  in  the  genus,  ii. 
120. 

CVMPID.E,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
UK). 

Cynocephalufi,  difference  of  the  young, 
fmm  the  adult,  i.  13 ;  male,  recognition 
of  women  by,  i.  13 ;  polygamous  habits 
of  species  of  i.  258. 

Ci/tiocep/iii/ii-H  cJuiema,  i.  40. 

Ciivru-ei>h<this  geluda.  i.  50. 

Ci/'iix-epfKi/iiK  hamadri/as.  i.  50;  sexual 
ililfi  relief  of  color  in,  ii.  278. 

Cynoceji/uilun  leucoplms,  colors  of  the 
sexes  of,  ii.  278. 

Ci/noceplialii/i  mormon,  colors  of  the  male, 
ii.  278,  282. 296. 

CijnoceplKtlus  porcariu«,  mano  of  the 
male  ii.  25.5. 

Oifpridina,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in,  1. 
807. 

Ctprinidjb,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the, 
1.299. 

CypBiNiB^  Indian,  ii.  17. 


CTPRoroTiONTrD.K,    scxiial   diflferencos    In 

the,  ii.  7,  9. 
Ci/priiitiM  aiirattut.  ii.  16. 
Ci/jiiiniiM plutxinuti,  spawning  of,  ii.  15. 
Ci/jiriM.  relations  of  the  sexes  in,  1.  307. 
CijHtoplwra  crUtata,  hood  o^  ii.  266. 


D. 

Dactlo,  sexnal  difference  of  color  in,  iL 

166. 
Ducelo  Oaudicfiavdi,  young  male  oi;  il. 

180. 
BAL-RfPA,  a  kind  of  ptarmigan,  i.  297. 
Damiilis  albifrone,  peculiar  markings  ot 

ii.  287. 
Damalit  pygarga,  pecuUar  markings  o^ 

ii.  287. 
Dampness  of  clim.ite,  supposed  influence 

of,  on  the  color  of  the  skin,  i.  Ill,  233. 
DaniiidiF.  i.  376. 
Dances  of  birds,  ii.  65. 
Dancing,  i.  224. 
Daniell.  Dr..  his  experience  of  residence 

in  West  Africa,  i.  236. 
Darfcr,    protuberances    artificially    pro- 
duced in.  ii.  22:5. 
Dakwin,  F.,  on  the  stridulation  of  Der- 

m£«tes  Jinirinim,  i.  368. 
Dasi/cfiira  pudihunda,  sexual  difference 

of  color  in,  i.  386. 
Davis,  A.  H..  on  the  pugnacity  of  the  male 

stag-beetle,  i.  364. 
Davis,  J.  B.,  on  the  capacity  of  the  skull 

in  various  races  of  men,  i.  140;  on  the 

beards  of  the  I'olynesians,  ii.  306. 
Death-rate  higher  in  towns  than  in  rural 

districts,  i.  169. 
Death-tick.  i.  878. 
De  Candolle.  ,Mph..  on  a  case  of  inherited 

power  of  moving  the  scalp,  i,  19. 
Declensions,  origin  of,  i.  59. 
Decoration  in  birds,  ii.  68. 
DecticHx,  i.  345. 
Deer,  spots  of  young,  ii.  176,288;  horns 

of,  ii.  232,  238";  use  of  horns  of,  ii.  240, 

251 ;  size  of  the  horns  of  ii.  247 ;  female 

pairing  with  one  male,  while  others  are 

lighting  for  her,  ii.  256;  male,  attracted 

by  the  voice  of  the  female,  ii.  263;  male, 

oilor  eniitted  by.  ii.  266;  development  of 

the  horns  in.  i.  27s;  horns  of  a,  in  course 

of  nioditicition,  ii.  248. 
Deer,  Axis,  sexual  difference  in  the  color 

of  the.  ii.  276. 
Deer,  fallow,  dilTerent  colored  herds  of  iL 

281. 
Deer,  Mantehurian,  ii.  289. 
Deer,  Virginian,  ii.  289;  color  of  the,  not 

affected  by  castration,  ii.  274 ;  colors  oC 

ii.  276. 
Deerhound,   Scotch,  greater  size  of  the 

male,  i.  283,  ii.  2,'4. 
Defensive  organs  of  mamm.nls,  ii.  2.51. 
Dk  Geer,  C.  on  a  female  spider  destroying 

a.  male,  i.  829. 


INDEX. 


401 


Dekat,  Dr.,  on  the  bladder-nose  seal,  ii. 
265. 

Demeraka,  yellow  fever  in,  i.  234. 

Dendrocygna,  ii.  177. 

Dendrophila  frontalis,  young:  of,  ii.  211. 

Denny,  H.,  on  the  lice  of  domestic  ani- 
mals, i.  211. 

Dermestes  imirintis,  stridulation  of,  i.  368. 

Descent  traced  through  the  mother  alone, 
ii.  343. 

Deserts,  protective  coloring  of  animals 
inhabiting,  ii.  214. 

Desmaeest,  on  the  absence  of  suborbital 
pits  in  Antilope  subgutturosa,  ii.  267; 
on  the  whiskers  of  Macacus,  ii.  209;  on 
the  color  of  the  opossum,  ii.  275 ;  on  the 
colors  of  the  se.xes  of  Jfu,9  minutius,  ii. 
273;  on  the  coloring  of  the  ocelot,  ii. 
273;  on  the  colors  of  seals,  ii.  273;  on 
Antilope  caama,  11.275;  on  the  colors 
of  goats,  ii.  276 ;  on  sexual  difference  of 
color  in  Afeles  marginatus,  ii.  277;  on 
the  mandrill,  ii.  278;  on  3£acacu8  eyno- 
molg'iis,  ii.  303. 

Desmoulins,  on  the  number  of  species  of 
man,  i.  218 ;  on  the  musk-deer,  ii.  267. 

Desor,  on  the  imitation  of  man  by  mon- 
keys, i.  42. 

Despine,  p.,  on  criminals  destitute  of  con- 
science, i.  89. 

Development,  embryonic,  of  man,  i.  14, 
16;  correlated,  ii.  125. 

Devil,  not  believed  in  by  the  Fuegians,  i. 
65. 

Devil-crab,  i.  323. 

Devonian,  fossil  insect  from  the,  i.  349. 

Dewlaps,  of  cattle  and  antelopes,  ii.  270. 

jyiadema,  sexual  differences  of  coloring  in 
the  species  of,  i.  376. 

Diarlema  anomala,  mimicry  by  the  fe- 
male of,  i.  400. 

Diadema  bolina.  i.  400. 

Diamond-beetles,  bright  colors  of,  i.  355. 

Diaste.ma,  occurrence  of,  in  man,  i.  121. 

Diastylidje,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
301. 

DiODORira,  on  the  absence  of  beard  in  the 
natives  of  Ceylon,  ii.  306. 

JXcruriDi,  racket-shaped  feathers  in,  ii.  70 ; 
nidiflcation  of,  ii.  160. 

IMcrurws')nacroc6rou.%  change  of  plumage 
in,  ii.  171. 

DidelphiH  opossvm,  sexual  difference  in 
the  color  of,  ii.  272. 

Differences,  comparative,  between  differ- 
ent species  of  bu-ds  of  the  same  sex,  ii. 
184. 

Digits,  supernumerary,  more  frequent  in 
men  than  in  women,  i.  265 ;  supernu- 
merary, inheritance  of  i.  276;  supernu- 
merary, early  development  of  i.  282. 

DiMORpms.M,  in  females  of  water-beetles,  1. 
333;  in  Neurothemis  and  Agrion,  i. 
352. 

JHpeUcu^  Caniori,  sexual  differences  of 
i.  358. 

DiPLOPODA,  prehensUe  limbs  of  the  male, 
i.  330. 


Dipsas  cynodon,  sexual  difference  in  the 
color  of  ii.  28. 

DiPTERA,  i.  338. 

Disease,  generated  by  the  contact  of  dis- 
tinct peoples,  i.  230. 

Diseases  common  to  man  and  the  lower 
animals,  i.  11 ;  differences  of  Uability  to, 
in  different  races  of  men,  i.  208;  new, 
effects  of  upon  savages,  i.  229 ;  sexually 
limited,  i.  283. 

Display,  coloration  of  Lepidoptera  for,  i. 
383;  of  plumage  by  male  birds,  ii.  82,  91. 

Distribution,  wide,  of  man,  i.  131 ;  geo- 
graphical, as  evidence  of  specific  distinct- 
ness in  man,  i.  210. 

Disuse,  effects  of,  in  producing  rudiment- 
ary organs,  i.  18;  and  use  of  parts,  ef- 
fects of,  i.  112;  of  parts,  influence  of,  on 
the  races  of  men,  i.  238. 

Divorce,  freedom  of,  among  the  Charruas, 
ii.  356. 

Dixon,  E.  S.,  on  the  habits  of  the  guinea- 
fowl,  i.  261 ;  on  the  pairing  of  different 
species  of  geese,  ii.  109  ;  on  the  courtship 
of  peafowl,  ii.  116. 

DoBRiznoFFER,  ou  the  marriage-customs 
of  the  Alipones,  ii.  357. 

Dogs,  suffering  from  Tertian  ague,  i.  13; 
memory  of,  i.  43 ;  domestic,  progress  o^ 
in  moral  quaUties,  i.  49 ;  distinct  tones 
uttered  by,  i.  52 ;  paralleUsm  between  his 
affection  for  his  master  and  religious  feel- 
ing, i.  65 ;  sociability  of  the,  i.  71 ;  sym- 
pathy of  with  a  sick  cat,  i.  74 ;  sympathy 
of  with  his  master,  i.  74 ;  possible  use  of 
the  hair  on  the  fore-legs  of  the,  i.  185 ; 
races  of  the,  i.  221 ;  diverging  when  di-aw- 
ing  sledges  over  thin  ice,  i.  45 ;  dreaming, 
i.  44, 152 ;  exercise  of  reasoning  faculties 
by,  i.  47 ;  their  possession  of  conscience, 
i.  75 ;  numerical  proportion  of  male  and 
female  births  in,  i.  294 ;  sexual  affection 
between  individuals  o^  ii.  258 ;  howling 
at  certain  notes,  ii.  317 ;  rolling  in  carrion, 
ii.  267. 

Dolichocephalic  structure,  possible  cause 
of  i.  142. 

Dolphins,  nakedness  of  i.  142. 

Domestic  animals,  races  of,  i.  221 ;  change 
of  breeds  ofj  ii.  352. 

Domestication,  influence  of  in  removing 
the  sterility  of  h3'brids,  i.  214. 

D'Orbigny,  a.,  on  the  influence  of  damp- 
ness and  dryness  on  the  color  of  the  skin, 
i.  232 :  on  the  Yuracaras,  ii.  331. 

Dotterel,  ii.  195. 

DouBLEDAY,  E.,  OU  sexual  differences  in 
the  wings  of  butterflies,  i.  334. 

DouBLEDAY,  H.,  On  the  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in  the  smaller  moths,  i.  302 ;  on  the 
attraction  of  the  males  of  Lnfsiocampa 
queriius  and  Satuniia  carpini  by  tho 
female,  i.  303 ;  on  the  propoi-tion  of  the 
sexes  in  the  Lepidoptera,  i.  303 ;  on  the 
ticking  of  AnoMiim  tessellatum,  i.  373 ; 
on  the  structure  ot  Ageronia  feronin.  i. 
375 ;  on  white  butterflies  alighting  upon 
paper,  i.  378. 


402 


INDEX. 


DonoLAS,  J.  "W.,  on  the  sexual  differences 
of  the  //emiptera,  i.  339  ;  on  the  colors 
of  IJriHsh  riomojitera,  i.  841. 

Down,  of  birds,  11.  77. 

Jhraco.  (Hilar  appondapes  of,  II.  81. 

l)RA<ioNET,  Ui'iiiini-ou.s.  ii.  7. 

Draoon-fi-iks.  caudal  apj)enda(res  of  male, 
1.  ftW ;  relative  size  of  llie  sexes  of,  i.  *J7; 
diffei-ence  in  the  sexes  of,  i.  351 ;  want  of 
pupnacity  by  the  male,  i.  3.5;}. 

Drake,  breeding  pluinat'e  of  the.  il.  SI. 

DREA.M8,  i.  44 ;  a  possible  source  of  the  be- 
lief in  spiritual  afreucie-s,  i.  04. 

Drill,  sexual  difference  of  color  in  the,  ii. 
2TS. 

Dromaim  irrm-atnx,  ii.  196. 

DromoUia.  Saharan  species  o^  ii.  164. 

Dronoo  shrike,  ii.  171. 

Drongos,  nieket-shaped  feathers  in  the 
tails  oC  ii.  7(1.  80. 

Dryness,  of  cliuiate,  supposed  influence  of, 
on  the  color  of  the  skin,  i.  233. 

Dn/ojHthecuM.  i.  IStl. 

DccK,  harlequin,  aire  of  mature  phimape  in 
the,  ii.  2(>4 ;  breeding  in  immature  plu- 
mage, ii.  205. 

DccK,  lonfT-tjiiled,  preference  of  male,  for 
certain  females,  ii.  117. 

Duck,  pintail,  pairing  with  a  wigeon,  ii. 
109. 

Duck,  voice  of  the,  ii.  57 ;  pairing  with  a 
shield-drake,  ii.  109  ;  immature  plumage 
of  the,  ii.  1»0. 

Duck,  wild,  sexual  differences  in  the,  1. 
260;  speculum  and  male  characters  of, 
1.  2S1 ;  pairing  with  a  pintail  drake^  ii. 
110. 

Ducks,  dogs  and  cats  recognized  by.  ii.  106 ; 
wild,  becoming  polvgamous  under  partial 
domesticatiou,  i.  2ftl. 

DuooNo,  tusks  ot  ii.  231 ;  nakedness  o^  1. 
142. 

DuJARDiN,  on  the  relative  size  of  the  cere- 
bral ganglia  in  insects,  i.  139. 

Duncan,  Dr.,  on  the  fertility  of  early  mar- 
riages, i.  167. 

DUPONT,  M.,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  sn- 
pra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  humerus 
of  man,  i".  28. 

Durand,  J.  P.,  on  causes  of  variation,  i.  109. 

DlTREAU  de  la  Malic,  on  the  songs  of  birds, 
i.  .53 ;  on  the  acquisition  of  an  air  by  black- 
birds, ii.  52. 

Dutch,  retention  of  their  color  by  the,  in 
South  .\frica.  i.  liVi. 

Duty,  sense  of,  i.  67. 

DuvAucEL,  female  Ilyiohates  washing  her 
young,  i.  39. 

Dyaks.  pride  of,  in  mere  homicide,  i.  90. 

DyniiKteji,  large  size  of  males  of  i.  337. 

Dynastini,  strldulation  of.  i.  369 

J>ytiMCtn<^  diinoriibisin  of  females  of,  i.  333; 
grrooved  elytra  of  the  female,  i.  333. 

E. 

Eaole,  young  OrcoptVAeciM  rescued  from, 
by  the  troop,  i.  72. 


Eaoi.r,  white-headed,  breeding  In  Imma- 
ture plumage,  ii.  205. 

Kakles,  golden,  new  mates  found  by,  U. 
100. 

Ear,  motion  of  the.  1.  20 ;  external  shell  of 
the.  useless  in  man,  i.  21 ;  rudimentary 
point  (if  the.  in  man.  i.  21. 

Ears.  i)iercing  and  ornamentation  of  the, 
ii.  .32.5. 

Eclii'hui.  i.  193. 

Kchini,  bright  colors  of  some,  i.  818. 

EciiiNODERM  ATA,  abscnce  of  secondary  sex- 
ual characters  in,  i.  812. 

EcKEH.  figure  of  the  human  embrj-o.  1. 15; 
on  sexual  (litferences  in  the  pelvis  in  man, 
ii.  3(»2  ;  on  tin-  ]insence  of  a  sagittal  crest 
in  .\ustr.ilians.  ii.  3(4. 

EuENTATA.  former  wide  range  of  in  Amer- 
ica, i.  211;  absence  of  secondary  sexual 
characters  in.  i.  259. 

FiloliuM^  racket-shai)ed  feathers  in,  ii.  70. 

EnwAuns,  Mr.,  on  the  jiroportion  of  tho 
sexes  in  North  American  species  of  Pa- 
pilio.  i.  .SOI. 

EoERToN,  Sir  P.,  on  the  use  of  the  antlers 
of  deer,  ii.  241 ;  on  the  paiiing  of  red  deer, 
ii.  257 ;  on  the  bellowing  of  stags,  ii.  261. 

Eggs,  hatched  by  male  fishes,  ii.  19. 

Egret,  Indian,  sexes  and  young  of^  ii.  203. 

Egrets,  breeding  plumage  of,  ii.  7!) ;  white, 
ii.  21 S. 

EnRENHERG,  On  the  mane  of  the  male  Ha- 
niadryas  baboon,  ii.  2.55. 

Ekrtikim.  M..  on  lltireUlti  glaeiaiiH.  ii.  117. 

Ehtchitita  riifo<:hierea,  habits  of  male,  i. 
303. 

Eland,  development  of  the  horns  of  the,  L 
2S0. 

Elands,  sexual  differences  of  color  in,  ii. 
274. 

Elii])komyin.  sexual  differences  in,  t.  838. 

EliiphvuM  ii/iginoxuji,  stridulation  of^  i.  368. 

EUipn,  ii.  30. 

Elaterid-e,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in,  1. 
305. 

Elaters,  luminous,  i.  SH5. 

Elephant,  i.  193;  nakedness  of  the.  1.145; 
rate  of  increase  of  the,  i.  180;  Indian, 
polvgamous  habits  of  the,  i.  259 ;  pugna- 
city of  the  male.  ii.  229 ;  tusks  of,  ii.  231, 
232,  237,  247 ;  Indian.  iiio<le  of  tighting, 
of  the,  ii.  245 ;  male,  odor  emittiHl  by  the, 
11.  266;  attacking  white  or  grav  horses, 
ii.  281. 

Elevation  of  abode,  modifWng  influence 
of.  i.  116. 

Elimination  of  inferior  individuals,  1. 165. 

Elk,  ii.  237 ;  winter  change  of  the,  iL  284. 

Elk,  Irish,  horns  of  the,  ii.  247. 

Ellice  Islands,  beards  of  the  natives,  ii. 
307.  3:«. 

Elliot,  K.,  on  the  numerical  proportion  of 
the  sexes  in  young  rats,  i.  296 ;  on  tho 
proportion  of  the  se.\es  in  sheep,  i.  296. 

Elliott,  D.  O..  on  Peiecanus  erythro- 
rhyn<ihufi.  ii.  77. 

Elliott,  Sir  W.,  on  the  polygamous  hab- 
its of  the  Indian  wild -boor,  i.  259. 


INDEX. 


403 


Ellis,  on  the  prevalence  of  infanticide  in 
Polynesia,  ii.  347. 

Elphinstone,  Mr.,  on  local  differences  of 
stature  among  the  Hindoos,  i.  110;  on 
the  difficulty  of  distingTiishing  the  native 
races  of  India,  i.  207. 

Elytra,  of  the  females  of  Dytismis,  Aci- 
livs,  ilydroponm^  i.  333. 

Emberiza,  characters  of  young,  ii.  176. 

Emheriza  miliaria,  ii.  177. 

Emheriza  schomichui,  ii.  106 ;  head-feath- 
ers of  the  male,  ii.  91. 

Embryo  of  man,  i.  14,  15;  of  the  dog, 
i.  15. 

Embryos  of  mammals,  resemblance  of  the, 
i.81. 

Emigration,  i.  166. 

Emotions  experienced  by  the  lower  ani- 
mals in  common  with  man,  ;.  38 ;  mani- 
fested by  animals,  i.  41. 

Emperor  moth,  i.  385. 

Emulation  of  singing-birds,  ii.  50. 

Emu,  sexes  and  incubation  of,  ii.  196. 

Endurance,  estimation  of  i.  91. 

Energy,  a  characteristic  of  men,  ii.  313. 

England,  numerical  proportion  of  male 
and  female  births,  in,  i.  291. 

Engleheaet,  Mr.,  on  the  finding  of  new 
mates  by  starlings,  ii.  101. 

English,  success  of,  as  colonists,  1. 172. 

Engravers,  short-sighted,  i.  113. 

Entomostraca,  i.  323. 

Entozoa,  difference  of  color  between  the 
males  and  females  of  some,  i.  312. 

Eocene,  possible  divergence  of  man  dur- 
ing the,  i.  192. 

EoLiD^  colors  of,  produced  by  the  biliary 
glands,  i.  314. 

Epeira,  i.  828. 

Epeira  nigra,  small  size  of  the  male  of  i. 
829. 

Ephemera,  i.  831. 

Ephemerid^  i.  350. 

Ephemerina,  i.  proportions  of  the  sexes 
in,  i.  806. 

Ephippiger  mliiim,  stridulating  organs 
of  i.  844,  348. 

Epicalia,  sexual  differences  of  coloring  in 
the  species  ot;  i.  876. 

Egmti  hemicnim,  winter  change  o^  ii.  284. 

Erateina,  coloration  of,  i.  385. 

Erect  attitude  of  man,  i.  136. 

EscHRiCHT,  on  the  development  of  hair  in 
man,  i.  24 ;  on  a  lanuginous  mustache 
in  a  female  foetus,  i.  25;  on  the  want  of 
definition  between  the  scalp  and  the  fore- 
head in  some  children,  i.  186;  on  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  hair  in  the  human 
foetus,  i.  186;  on  the  hairiness  of  the  face 
in  the  human  foetus  of  both  sexes,  u.  862, 
363. 

Esmeralda,  difference  of  color  in  the  sex- 
es of,  i.  356. 

Esox  luHvs,  i.  299. 

Esox  retieulatiis,  ii.  14. 

Esquimaux,  i.  151, 160;  their  belief  in  the 
Inheritance  of  dexterity  in  seal-catching, 
i.  113 ;  mode  of  Ufe  oi;"i.  287. 


EstreMa  amandava,  pugnacity  of  the 
male,  ii.  46. 

Evbaffis,  se.xual  differences  of  coloring  in 
the  species  of;  i.  377. 

Enckirus  langimanus,  sound  produced 
by,  i.  370. 

Eudromias  morinelhm,  ii.  194. 

Etdamjns  jugulari-s,  colors  of  the  female, 
ii.  160. 

EuLER,  on  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  i.  126. 

Eiimomota  »uperciliaris,  racket-shaped 
feathers  in  the  tail  ef,  ii.  70. 

Eiipetomena  maeroura,  colors  of  the  fe- 
male, ii.  160. 

Enphema  splendida,  ii.  166. 

Euplocamw  erythrophthalmim,  posses- 
sion of  spurs  by  the  female,  ii.  44. 

Euplma  miitamas,  mimickry  of,  by  the 
female  of  Diadema  anomala,  i.  400. 

Europe,  ancient  inhabitants  of,  i.  228. 

Europeans,  difference  of  fiom  Hindoos, 
i.  231 ;  hairiness  of;  probably  due  to  re- 
version, ii.  361. 

Erirostopodii^,  sexes  of  ii.  197. 

Eurygnathns,  different  proportions  of  the 
head  in  the  sexes  of  i.  .334. 

EtiMepha-rms,  sexual  differences  of  species 
of,  ii.  37 ;  young  of,  ii.  211. 

Exaggeration  of  natural  characters  by 
man,  ii.  334. 

Exogamy,  ii.  344,  848. 

Expression,  resemblances  in,  between 
man  and  the  apes,  i.  184. 

Extinction  of  races,  causes  of  i.  229. 

Eye,  destruction  of  the,  i.  112;  change  of 
position  in,  i.  141 ;  obliquity  of  regarded 
as  a  beauty  by  the  Cliinese  and  Japan- 
ese, ii.  328. 

Eyebrows,  elevation  of,  i.  19 ;  develop- 
ment of  long  hairs  in,  i.  24;  in  monkeys, 
i.  185;  eradicated  in  parts  of  South 
America  and  Africa,  ii.  324 ;  eradication 
o^  by  the  Indians  of  Paraguay,  ii.  332. 

Eyelids,  colored  black,  in  part  of  Africa, 
ii.  323. 

Eyelashes,  eradication  of;  by  the  Indians 
of  Paraguay,  ii.  332. 

Eyes,  difference  in  the  color  of  in  the  sex- 
es of  birds,  ii.  123;  pillared,  of  the  male 
of  Chloean,  i.  381. 

Eyton,  T.  C,  observations  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  horns  in  the  fallow-deer,  i. 
279. 

Eyzies,  Les,  human  remains  from,  i.  228. 


F. 

Fabre,  M.,  on  the  habits  of  Cerceris  1. 
353. 

Facial  bones,  causes  of  modification  of 
the,  i.  141. 

Faculties,  mental,  variation  of  in  the 
sam.e  species,  i.  35 ;  diversity  of,  in  the 
same  race  of  men,  i.  105 ;  inheritance  of; 
i.  106;  diversity  of;  in  animals  of  the 
same  species,  i.  106 ;  of  birds,  ii.  104. 


404 


L\DEX. 


Fakiks,  Indian,  tortures  iinderRone  by,  1. 

92. 
Fdico  Uucorepfnilwt,  ii.  205. 
FaU-o  perenrinim.  it.  1(W.  179. 
Fiilfo  tinniineiiliiH.  ii.  100. 
Falcon,  percfjrino,  new  mate  found  by,  U. 

100. 
Falconer,  II.,  on  the  mode  of  flphtinjj  of 
tlio  Indian  eicphnnt  ii.  24i>;  on   canines 
in  a  female  deer,  ii.  24C;  on  llyomoschus 
a<]>iati4'iiit,  ii.  2^9. 

Falkland  iHlands,  horses  of,  i.  227. 

Fallow-deer,  ditlbrent  colored  herds  ot 
ii.  2S1. 

Famines,  frequencv  of,  among'  savages,  1. 
229. 

Farr.  Dr.,  on  the  structure  of  the  uterus, 
i.  US;  on  the  effects  of  profligacy,  i.  166; 
on  the  intlucnce  of  marriage  on  mortali- 
ty, i  169. 

Farrar,  F.  W.,  on  the  origin  of  language, 
i.  54 ;  on  the  crossing  or  blending  of  lan- 
guages, i.  OS;  on  the  absence  of  the  idea 
of  (iod  in  certain  races  of  men,  i.  6:^  ;  on 
early  marriages  of  the  poor,  i.  167;  on 
the  middle  ages.  i.  172. 

Fashions,  long  prevalence  of;  among  sav- 
ages, ii.  327,  336. 

Fave,  Prof'.,  on  the  numerical  proportion 
of  male  and  female  births  in  Nonvay  and 
Kussia,  i.  291 ;  on  the  greater  mort.'ility 
of  male  children  at  and  before  birth,  i. 
292. 

Feathers,  modified,  producing  sounds,  ii. 
60;  et  »eqq.,  1.56;  elongatefl,  in  male 
binis,  ii.  69,  93 ;  racket-shaped,  ii.  70 ; 
barbless  and  with  filamentous  barbs  in 
certain  birds,  ii.  70 ;  shedding  of  margins 
of,  ii.  82. 

Feedino,  liigh,  probable  influence  of  in 
the  pairing  of  birds  of  different  species, 
ii.  111. 

Feet,  modification  of  in  man,  i.  136;  thick- 
ening of  the  skin  on  the  soles  of  the,  1. 
113. 

Feli^i  C(inaifeiiiti\  throat-ruff  of  ii.  273. 

Felis  pardalin  and  /'.  tnitis.  sexual  differ- 
ences in  the  coloring  of  ii.  273. 

Female,  behavior  of  the,  during  courtship, 
1.  2f4. 

Female  birds,  differences  of,  ii.  18.5. 

Females,  presence  of  rudimeiit;iry  male 
organs  in,  i.  199;  preference  of  for  cer- 
tain males,  i.  254;  pursuit  of  by  males, 
i.  263;  occurrence  of  secondary  se.xual 
characters  in,  i.  267;  development  of 
male  characters  by,  i.  271. 

Females  and  males,  comparative  mortali- 
ty of  while  young,  i.  255,  267;  compara- 
tive nuHibers  of  i,  252,  2.55. 

Femur  and  tibia,  proportions  of,  in  the 
Aymara  Indians,  i.  115. 

Fer(;u80N,  Mr.,  on  the  courtship  of  fowls,  il. 
11.3. 

Fertilization,  phenomena  of  in  plants,  I. 
265;  in  the  lower  animals,  i.  206. 

Fevers,  immunity  of  Negroes  and  Mulat- 
tocB  from,  i.  234. 


Fihfr  HhetfticJiA,  protective  coloring  of^  ii. 
2.St. 

Fidelity  of  savages  to  one  another,  i.  91 ; 
importance  of  i.  156. 

Field-slaves,  difference  of^  ftom  house- 
slaves,  i.  237. 

Fi.iiANS,  bur>-ing  their  old  and  sick  parents 
alive,  i.  74;  estimation  of  the  beard 
among  the,  ii.  3:^;  admiration  of^  for  a 
broad  occiput,  ii.  335. 

Fi.ii  Islands,  beards  of  the  natives,  ii.  306, 
333;  marriage-customs  of  the,  ii.  libO. 

Filial  afl'ection,  partly  the  result  of  natu- 
ral selection,  i.  77. 

FiLr.M  terminale,  i.  29, 

Finch,  racket-shaped  feathers  in  the  tail 
of  a,  ii.  70. 

Finches,  spring  change  of  color  in,  iL  82 ; 
British  females  of  the,  ii.  18.5. 

FiN(iERs,  partiallv  coherent,  in  species  of 
Jli/lnhiite«.  i.  l:U. 

FiNi.AYSoN,  on  the  Cochin-Chinese,  il.  829, 

Fire,  use  of,  i.  132,  176,  22.5. 

FisrnER,  on  the  pugnacity  of  the  male  of 
J.ethriis  cfpluiloten,  i.  Sfe. 

Fish,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  1.  298; 
eagerness  of  male,  i,  26;}, 

Fishes,  kidneys  of,  represented  bv  Cor- 
pora Wolfliana  in  the  human  embr}-o,  L 
16;  male,  hatching  ova  in  their  mouths, 
i.  202 ;  receptacles  for  ova  possessed  by, 
i.  246 ;  relative  size  of  the  sexes  in,  ii.  7 : 
fresh-water,  of  the  tropics,  ii.  17 ;  protec- 
tive resi'inblances  in,  ii.  18;  nest- build- 
ing, ii.  19;  spawning  of,  ii.  18;  sounds 
proiluced  bv,  ii.  22,  315;  continued 
growth  of,  ii."  207. 

Flea-or  pollicit<  longus,  similar  variation 
of.  in  man,  i.  124. 

Flint  tools,  i.  176. 

Flints,  difficulty  of  chipping  into  form,  1. 
i:W. 

Florida,  Quiwahiti  major  in,  i.  298. 

Flounder,  coloration  of  the,  ii,  18. 

Flower,  W.  H.,  on  the  abductor  of  tho 
fifth  metatarsal  in  apes,  i.  12-3  ;  on  the 
I)osition  of  the  Seals,  i.  Is;};  on  the 
throat-pouch  of  the  male  Bustard,  ii. 
55. 

Fly-catchers,  colors  and  nidiflcation  o^ 
ii.  162. 

FtETUS,  human,  woolly  covering  of  the,  L 
25 ;  arrangement  of  the  hair  on.  i.  186, 

Food,  influence  of  upon  stature,  i.  110. 

Foot,  prehensile,  in  the  early  progenitors 
ofman,  i,  198;  preliensile  power  of  the, 
retiiined  in  some  savages,  i.  136. 

Foramen,  supra-condyloid,  exceptional  oc- 
currence of  in  the  humerus  of  man,  i.  27, 
125 ;  in  the  early  progenitore  of  man,  1. 
198. 

Forbes,  D.,  on  the  Aymara  Indians,  1. 
115;  on  l(K-al  variation  of  color  in  the 
Quechuas,  1.  237 ;  on  the  liairlessness  of 
the  Aymarns  and  Quechuas.  il.  307;  on 
the  long  hair  of  the  Ayuianis  and  Que- 
chuas. ii.  80,5.  :«1. 

FoBEL,  F.,  on  wliitc  young  swans,  iL  202. 


INDEX. 


405 


Formica  rufa,  size  of  the  cerebral  ganglia 
in,  i.  139. 

Fossrts,  absence  o^  connecting  man  with 
tho  apes,  i.  193. 

Fowl,  occurrence  of  spurs  in  the  female, 
1.  271 ;  game,  early  pugnacity  o^  i.  285 ; 
Polish,  early  development  of  cranial  pe- 
culiarities ot,  i.  285;  variations  in  plu- 
mage o^  ii.  71;  examples  of  correlated 
development  in  the,  ii.  124;  domestic, 
breeds  and  subbreeds  of,  ii.  168. 

Fowls,  spangled  Hamburg,  i.  272,  284; 
sexual  peculiarities  in,  transmitted  only 
to  the  same  sex,  i.  274 ;  loss  of  secondary 
sexual  characters  by  male,  i.  275 ;  inher- 
itance of  changes  of  plumage  by,  i.  272 ; 
Polish  origin  of  the  crest  in,  i.  275 ;  period 
of  inheritance  of  characters  by,  i.  284 ; 
cuckoo-,  i.  285;  development  of  the 
comb  in,  i.  285;  numerical  proportion  of 
the  sexes  in,  i.  296;  courtship  of,  ii.  112; 
mongrel,  between  a  black  Spanish  cock 
and  different  hens,  ii.  125;  pencilled 
Hamburg,  difference  of  the  sexes  in,  ii. 
151 ;  Spanish,  sexual  differences  of  the 
comb  in,  ii.  151 ;  spurred,  in  both  sexes, 
U.155. 

Fox,  W.  C,  on  some  half-tamed  vrild- 
ducks  becoming  polygamous,  and  on 
polygamy  in  the  guinea-fowl  and  canary- 
bird,  i.  261;  on  the  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in  cattle,  i.  295 ;  on  the  pugnacity 
of  the  peacock,  ii.  43 ;  on  a  nuptial  as- 
sembly of  magpies,  ii.  98 ;  on  the  finding 
of  new  mates  by  crows,  ii.  100;  on  par- 
tridges hving  in  triplets,  ii.  103;  on  the 
pairing  of  a  goose  with  a  Chinese  gander, 
ii.  110. 

Foxes,  wariness  of  young  in  hunting  dis- 
tricts, i.  48 ;  black,  ii.  280. 

Feakce,  numerical  proportion  of  male  and 
female  births  in,  i.  292. 

Francesco,  B.,  on  the  Simian  resemblances 
of  man,  i.  4. 

Fraser,  C,  on  the  different  colors  of  the 
sexes  in  a  species  ot  Squilla,  i.  326. 

Fringilla  cannaMna,  ii.  82. 

Fringilla  dris,  age  of  matui'e  plumags  in, 
ii.  204. 

Fringilla  cyanea,  age  of  mature  plumage 
in,  ii.  204. 

Fringilla  leucophrys,  young  o^  ii.  208. 

Fringilla  spinus,  ii.  110. 

Fringilla  tristis,  change  of  color  in,  in 
spring,  ii.  82 ;  young  of;  ii.  207, 

FR1NGILLID.E,  resemblance  of  the  females 
of  distinct  species  o£  ii.  184. 

Frogs,  ii.  24 ;  male,  temporary  receptacles 
for  ova  possessed  by,  i.  246;  ready  to 
breed  before  the  females,  i.  252;  vocal 
organs  of  ii.  28. 

Frontal  bone,  persistence  of  the  suture 
in,  i.  120. 

Fkitits,  poisonous,  avoided  by  animals,  i. 

FuEGiANS,  i.  160,  174;  mental  capacity  of 
the,  i.  83 ;  quasi-reliipous  sentiments  of 
the,  i.  65;  power  of  sight  in  the,  i.  114; 


skill  of,  in  stone-throwing,  i.  156 ;  resist- 
ance of  the,  to  their  severe  climate,  i. 
150, 229 ;  difference  of  stature  among  the, 
i.  Ill ;  mode  of  life  of  the,  i.  237;  resem- 
blance of,  m  mental  characters,  to  Euro- 
peans, i.  223 ;  aversion  of,  to  hair  on  the 
face,  ii.  332;  said  to  admire  Em-opean 
women,  ii.  334. 

FtTLGORiD.!;,  songs  of  the,  i.  340. 

FuK,  whiteness  of,  in  arctic  animals,  in 
winter,  i.  273. 

Fur-bearing  animals,  acquired  sagacity 
of,  i.  48. 

G. 

GalUcrex,  sexual  difference  in  the  color  of 
the  irides  in,  ii.  123. 

Gallierex  cristatuj),  red  caruncle  occurring 
in  the  male  during  the  breeding-season, 
ii.  76. 

GALLINACE.E,  frequency  of  polygamous 
habits  and  of  sexual  differences  in  the,  i. 
260 ;  love-gestures  of,  ii.  65 ;  decomposed 
feathers  in,  ii.  70 ;  stripes  of  young,  ii, 
176;  comparative  sexual  differences  be- 
tween the  species  oi,  ii.  184,  185;  plu- 
mage of,  ii.  187. 

Gallinaceous  birds,  weapons  of  the  male, 
ii.  42;  racket-shaped  feathers  on  the 
heads  oi;  ii.  70. 

Gallinula  chUrropus,  pugnacity  of  male, 
ii.  38. 

Gallinula  crislata,  pugnacity  of  the  male, 
ii.  39. 

Galloperdia;  spurs  of  ii.  44 ;  development 
of  spurs  in  the  female,  ii.  155. 

Gallophasis,  young  of  ii.  182. 

Gallus  banH-va,  ii.  151 ;  neck-hackles  o^ 
ii.  81. 

Gallus  Stanleiji,  pugnacity  of  the  male,  ii. 
42. 

Galls,  i.  146. 

Galton,  Mr.,  on  the  struggle  between  the 
social  and  personal  impulses,  i.  99 ;  on 
hereditary  genius,  i.  106;  on  the  effects 
of  natural  selection  on  civilized  nations, 
i.  161 ;  on  the  sterility  of  sole  daughters, 
i.  164;  on  the  degree  of  fertility  of  people 
of  genius,  i.  165;  on  the  early  marriages 
of  the  poor,  i.  167;  on  the  ancient  Greeks 
i.  171 ;  on  the  Middle  Ages,  i.  171 ;  on 
the  progress  of  the  United  States,  i.  172 ; 
on  South  Aiiican  notions  of  beauty,  ii. 
331. 

Gammarus,  use  of  the  chelae  of,  i.  331. 

Gammarus  marin us,  i.  323. 

Gannets,  white  only  when  mature,  ii.  218. 

Ganoidei,  i.  196. 

Ganoid  fishes,  i.  204. 

Gaour,  horns  of  the,  ii.  236. 

Gap  between  man  and  the  apes,  i.  192. 

Gaper,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii.  208. 

Gardner,  on  an  example  of  rationaUty  in  a 
Gelasimns,  i.  324. 

Garrulus  glandarixi^,  ii.  100. 

Gartner,  on  sterihty  of  hybrid  plants,  L 
215. 


406 


INDEX. 


Gartf.ropoda.  1. 815;  inilnionlferous,  court- 
ship of.  i.  mri. 

GaxUroMfeiM,  I.  200;  nWinontion  o^  11. 19. 

GatUrOMteim  Ifiiiriis,  11.  'i,  14,  19. 

GiuteroMtfiM  tnichurini.  ii.  2. 

Oastrophora.  wings  o^  brightly  colored 
boneath,  i.  )i<i. 

Gaucuos,  want  of  liumanity  among  the,  1. 
97. 

Gaudrt,  M.,  on  a  fossil  monkey,  1. 1S9. 

Garia  seasonal  change  of  ijluiiiago  in,  il. 
218. 

Gekse,  clanging  noise  made  by,  ii.  49 ;  pair- 
ing of  ditlorcnt  spicifs  of.  ii.  109;  Cana- 
da, selection  of  mates  t>y,  ii.  112. 

Gegenbaur.  ('.,  on  the  number  of  digits  in 
the  I(htliy(>i>terygia,  i.  120;  on  the  her- 
niajiliniilitism  ol'  the  remote  progenitors 
of  the  virttlmita,  i.  199. 

GtUiKimuK.  use  of  the  enlarged  chela  of  the 
male,  i.  822;  pugnacity  of  males  ot,  1. 
82;} ;  proportions  of  the  sexes  in  a  spe- 
cies of.  i.  807  ;  rational  actions  of  a,  i.  325; 
diffiTence  of  color  in  the  sexes  of  a  spe- 
cies of,  i.  327. 

Gemmules,  sexual  selection  ot,  i.  297. 

Genesis,  i.  310. 

Genius,  ii.  312 ;  hereditary,  i.  106. 

Genius,  fertility  of  men  and  women  ot;  i. 
165. 

Geoffeot  Saint  -  HiLAiKE,  Isid.,  on  the 
recognition  of  women  by  male  quadru- 
mana,  i.  13 ;  on  the  occurrence  of  a  rudi- 
mentary tail  in  man,  i.  2S ;  on  monstrosi- 
ties, i.  los;  on  animal-like  anomalies  in 
the  human  structure,  i.  120;  on  the  cor- 
relation of  monstrosities,  i.  125;  on  the 
distribution  of  hair  in  man  and  monkeys, 
i.  143;  on  the  caudal  vertebne  of  mon- 
keys, i.  144;  on  correlated  variability.  1. 
146;  on  the  classification  of  man.  i.  179; 
on  the  long  hair  on  the  heads  of  species 
of  S,)n)i()jiif/i,cii.i.  i.  1'^;  on  the  hair  in 
monkeys,  i.  IsO;  on  the  development  of 
horns  in  female  deer.  ii.  2*3 ;  and  F.  Cu- 
vier,  on  the  mandrill,  ii.  27S;  on  llylo- 
bates,  ii.  3o;?.  8ii5. 

Geocrapiiuai.  (listritmtion,  as  evidence  of 
speeilic  (listinctions  in  man.  i.  210. 

GEo.MCTK.r,  biightly  coloreil  beneath,  i.  3S5. 

Geo/i/iti(;iiM.  frontal  prolulnrance  of  male, 
ii.  13.  20;  eggs  hatcliiil  by  the  male,  in 
the  mouth  or  branchial  cavity,  ii.  192. 

Georgia,  change  of  color  in  Germans  set- 
tled in,  1.  237. 

Geotrupex,  stridulation  of.  i.  869,  870. 

Gerbe,  M..  on  the  nest-building  of  Crenila- 
l/riM  nuiMMa  and  (\  me/opn.  ii.  19. 

Gerland.  Dr..  on  the  prevalence  of  Infanti- 
cide, i.  90 ;  ii.  32S.  .348 ;  on  the  extinction 
of  races,  i.  22a  229. 

Gervais,  p.,  on  the  hairiness  of  the  gorilla, 
I.  143 ;  on  the  mandrill.  U.  278. 

Gestuke-lanouage,  i.  224. 

GiiosT-MOTii,  sexual  difference  of  color  in 
the.  i.  3s6,  .390. 

Giiiii.  Sir  I).,  on  differences  of  the  voice  In 
dillerent  races  of  men,  ii.  815. 


Gin  RON,  IToolock.  nose  oi;  1. 184. 

(iiBBOss,  voice  of;  ii.  263. 

OiRAKFF«  mute,  excejit  in  the  rutting  sea- 
son, ii.  201 ;  Its  mode  of  using  the  boms, 
ii.  2;W. 

GiRAUD  -  Teulox,  on  the  cause  of  short 
Right  i.  114. 

Glanders,  communicable  between  man 
and  the  lower  animals,  i.  11. 

Glands,  odoriferous,  in  mammals,  11.  266, 
207. 

Glareola,  double  moult  in,  ii.  77. 

GUtmeriii  limlmta.  diftenmce  of  color  in 
the  sexes  of.  i.  331. 

Glowworm,  female,  apterous,  1. 247 ;  lumi- 
nosity of  the,  i.  3;35. 

Gnats,"  dances  oC  i.  339. 

Gnu,  sexual  difl'erences  in  the  color  of  the, 
ii.  275. 

Goat,  male,  wild,  falling  on  his  horns,  11. 
23S;  male,  odor  emitted  by.  ii.  260;  male, 
wild,  crest  of  the.  ii.  20.S;  Berbura,  mane, 
dewlap,  etc.,  of  the  male,  ii.  271 ;  Kemas, 
sexual  difference  in  the  color  of  the,  ii. 
275. 

Goats,  sexual  differences  in  the  horns  o? 
1.  274;  horns  of,  i.  2S0.  ii.  235;  domestic, 
sexual  differences  of  late  developed,  i. 
293 ;  beards  of;  ii.  209 ;  mode  of  fighting 
of,  ii.  23S,  239. 

Goatsucker,  Virginian,  pairing  of  the,  ii. 
47. 

Gobies,  nidification  of,  ii.  19. 

God,  want  of  the  idea  of;  in  some  races  of 
men,  i.  62. 

GoDRON,  M.,  on  variabilit}'.  i.  108;  on  dif- 
ference of  stature,  i.  1 1 1 ;  on  the  want  of 
connection  between  climate  and  the  color 
of  the  skin,  i.  232 ;  on  the  odor  of  the 
skin,  i.  239;  on  the  color  of  Infants,  U. 
803. 

Goldfinch,  ii.  5.3.  79;  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in  the,  i.  29S ;  sexual  difl'erences  of 
the  beak  In  the,  ii.  87 ;  courtship  of  the, 
ii.  91. 

GoLDiTSCH,  North  American,  young  o^  ii. 
207. 

GoLD-Fisn,  ii.  16. 

GomphuK,  proportions  of  the  sexes  In,  1. 
816;  difference  in  the  sexes  o£  i.  351. 

Goiieptenjx  lilnimiu.  i.  8!S0 ;  sexual  differ- 
ence of  color  in,  i.  396. 

GooDSiK.  Prof.,  on  the  affinity  of  the  lance- 
let  to  the  ascidians,  i.  196. 

Goosander,  young  of;  ii.  181. 

Goose,  Antarctic,  colors  of  the,  11.  218. 

Goose,  Canada,  pairing  with  a  Bernicle 
gander,  ii.  109. 

GoosF,  Chinese,  knob  on  the  beak  of  the, 
ii.  124. 

Goose,  Egj-ptian,  ii.  44.   ■ 

Goose,  Sebastopol.  plumage  of,  ii.  69. 

Goose,  Snow-,  whiteness  of  the,  ii.  218. 

Goose,  Spur-winged,  ii.  44. 

Gorilla,  ii.  80S;  semi-erect  attitude  of 
the,  1.  137;  mastoid  processes  of  the,  i. 
13S,  din^ction  of  the  hair  on  the  arms  of 
the,  i.  185;  supposed  evolution  of  the,  i 


INDEX. 


407 


222;  polygamy  of  the,  i.  258,  ii.  345,  346 ; 
voice  of  the,  ii.  262 ;  cranium  of,  ii.  303 ; 
fighting  of  male,  ii.  309. 

GossE,  P.  H.,  on  the  pugnacity  of  the  male 
Humming-birds,  ii.  38. 

GossE,  M.,  on  the  inheritance  of  artificial 
modifications  of  the  skull,  ii.  364. 

Gould,  B.  A.,  on  variation  in  the  length  of 
the  legs  In  man,  i.  104;  measurements  of 
American  soldiers,  i.  110, 112 ;  on  the  pro- 
portions of  the  body  and  capacity  of  the 
lungs  in  different  races  of  men,  i.  208 ;  on 
the  inferior  vitaUty  of  mulattoes,  i. 
213. 

Gould,  J.,  on  the  arrival  of  male  snipes  be- 
fore the  females,  i.  251 ;  on  the  nuiuerieal 
proportion  of  the  sexes  in  birds,  i.  297; 
on  NeomorpTia,  ii.  37 ;  on  the  species  of 
EiiMephanvAi^  ii.  37;  on  the  Australian 
Musk-duck,  ii.  37 ;  on  the  relative  size  of 
the  sexes  in  Biziura  lohata  and  Cinclo- 
ramphus  eruralis,  ii.  41 ;  on  Lohivanel- 
hts  lobatus,  ii.  46 ;  on  the  habits  of  Me- 
nura  Alberii,  Ii.  53;  on  the  rarity  of 
song  in  brilliant  bii'ds,  ii.  55;  on  Selas- 
phorus  platycemt.%  ii.  62;  on  the  Bow- 
er-birds, ii.  66,  98;  on  the  ornamental 
plumage  of  the  Humming-birds,  ii.  75 ; 
on  the  moulting  of  the  ptarmigan,  ii.  79 ; 
on  the  display  of  plumage  by  the  male 
Humming-birds,  ii.  82;  on  the  shj-ness 
of  adorned  male  birds,  ii.  93 ;  on  the  dee- 
oration  of  the  bowers  of  Bower-birds,  ii. 
107;  on  the  decoration  of  their  nests  by 
Humming-birds,  ii.  107 ;  on  variation  in 
the  genus  Cynanthiis,  ii.  121 ;  on  the  col- 
or of  the  thighs  in  a  male  p.arakeet,  ii. 
121;  on  Uroxticte  Benjamini,  ii.  145, 
146 ;  on  the  nidiflcation  of  the  Orioles,  ii. 
160;  on  obscurely -colored  birds  building 
concealed  nests,  ii.  161 ;  on  Trogons  and 
Kingfishers,  ii.  165;  on  Australian  par- 
rots, ii.  166;  on  Australian  pigeons,  ii. 
167 ;  on  the  moulting  of  the  pUirmigan, 
ii.  173;  on  the  Immatm-e  plumage  of 
birds,  ii.  178  et  seq. ;  on  the  Australian 
species  of  Turnix,  ii.  192 ;  on  the  young 
of  AithurxM  polytm  us,  ii.  211 ;  on  the 
colors  of  the  bills  of  Toucans,  ii.  217 ;  on 
the  relative  size  of  the  sexes  in  the  Mar- 
supials of  Australia,  ii.  248;  on  the  colors 
of  the  Marsupials,  ii.  272. 

GouREAU,  on  the  stridulation  of  Jfutilla 
Europcea,  i.  355. 

Gout,  sexually  transmitted,  i.  2S3. 

Gkaba,  on  the  Pied  Eavens  of  the  Feroe 
Islands,  ii.  121 ;  on  the  Bridled  Guille- 
mot, ii.  122. 

Geadation  of  secondary  sexual  characters 
in  birds,  ii.  129. 

Geallatores,  absence  of  secondary  sexu- 
al characters  in,  i.  261 ;  double  moult  in 
some,  ii.  77. 

GralHna,  nidiflcation  of,  ii.  161. 

Gkasshoppers,  stridulation  of  the,  i.  346. 

Geatiolet,  Prof.,  on  the  anthropomor- 
phous apes,  i.  189;  on  the  evolution  of 
the  anthropomorphous  apes,  i.  227. 


Gray,  Asa,  on  the  gradation  of  species 
among  the  Composite,  i.  219. 

Gray,  J.  E.,  on  the  caudal  vertebrse  of 
monkeys,  i.  145 ;  on  the  presence  of  ru- 
diments of  horns  in  the  female  of  Cervu- 
Itts  moschatiis,  ii.  234;  on  the  horns  of 
goats  and  sheep,  ii.  235 ;  on  the  beard  of 
the  Ibex,  ii.  269;  on  the  Berbura  goat, 
ii.  271 ;  on  sexual  differences  in  the  col- 
oration of  Rodents,  ii.  272 ;  on  the  colors 
of  the  Elands,  ii.  274 ;  on  the  Sing-sing 
antelope,  ii.  275;  on  the  colors  of  goats, 
ii.  276 ;  on  the  Hog-deer,  ii.  289. 

"  Greatest  happiness  principle,"  i.  93,  94. 

Greeks,  ancient,  i.  171. 

Green,  A.  H.,  on  beavers  fighting,  ii.  228 ; 
on  the  voice  of  the  beaver,  ii.  263. 

Greenfinch,  selected  by  a  female  canary, 
ii.llO.  ^  '' 

Greg,  W.  E.,  on  the  early  marriages  of 
the  poor,  i.  167 ;  on  the  ancient  Greeks, 
i.  171 ;  on  the  effects  of  natural  selection 
on  civilized  nations,  i.  161. 

Grenadiers,  Prussian,  i.  lOS. 

Grey,  Sir  G..  on  female  infanticide  in  Aus- 
tralia, ii.  348. 

Greyhounds,  numerical  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in,  i.  255,  256 ;  numerical  propor- 
tion of  male  and  female  bhths  in,  i. 
294. 

Grouse,  red,  monogamous,  i.  261 ;  pugna- 
city of  young  male,  ii.  46 ;  producing  a 
sound  by  scraping  their  wings  upon 
the  gi-ound,  ii.  59 ;  duration  of  courtship 
of^  ii.  96 ;  colors  and  nidiflcation  of,  ii. 
163. 

Geube,  Dr.,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  su- 
pra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  humerus 
of  man,  i.  27. 

Cfriis  Amerioanus,  age  of  mature  plumage 
in,  ii.  204;  breeding  in  immature  plu- 
mage, ii.  205. 

OriM  Virgo,  trachea  o£  ii.  57. 

GryUua  cumpestris,  i.  343 ;  pugnacity  of 
male,  i.  849. 

CrryUiis  domestic^,  i.  343. 

Grypua,  sexual  differences  in  the  beak  in, 
ii.  37. 

Guanacoes,  battles  of;  ii.  228;  canino 
teeth  of;  ii.  246. 

Guanas,  strife  for  women  among  the,  ii. 
309 ;  polj'andry  among  the,  ii.  349. 

Guanche  skeletons,  occui-rence  of  tho 
supra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  humerua 
of,  i.  28. 

Guaranys,  proportion  of  men  and  women 
among,  i.  292 ;  color  of  new-born  children 
of  the,  ii.  303 ;  beards  of  the,  ii.  307. 

GuE.NEE,  A.,  on  the  sexes  of  Ilyperythra, 
i.  301. 

GuiLDiNe,  L.,  on  the  stridulation  of  tho 
Locuatidm,  i.  342. 

Guillemot,  variety  of  the,  ii.  122. 

GuiNE.i,  sheep  of^  with  males  only  horned, 
i.  280. 

Guinea-fowl,  monogamous,  i.  361 ;  occa- 
sional polygamy  of  the,  i.  261 ;  markmgs 
of  the,  u.  129. 


408 


INDEX. 


GuiNEA-pir.R,  inherltanrc  of  tlic  cflfects  of 
operutions  by,  ii.  StK. 

Gull,  Instanoe  of  rcnsDninp  in  a.  ii.  104. 

Gulls,  seasonal  chari(,'e  of  iiluiiiagu  in,  ii. 
218;  white,  ii.  218. 

GOntiier,  Dr.,  on  hcrmaphroditi.sin  in 
«Scrra;i(M,  i.  200;  on  male  ti.-ilies  liatch- 
Inp  ova  In  their  mouths,  i.  '201,  Ii.  19;  on 
mi.stakin^'  infertile  female  lishes  for 
male.s,  i.  2SN ;  on  tlie  j)rehensile  orpans 
of  mule  I'lapiostomous  fishes,  ii.  2 ;  on 
the  pugnacity  of  the  male  salmon  and 
trout,  ii.  3 ;  on  tlie  relative  size  of  the 
8exes  in  fishes,  ii.  7 ;  on  se.xual  dift'or- 
ences  in  lislies,  ii.  8  et  ne/jq. ;  on  the  ge- 
nus CalliimipniiJ),  ii.  9;  a  protective  re- 
Bemhlancp  in  a  IMpe-tish,  ii.  18;  on  the 
genus  SolfiioKtoma.  ii.  21 ;  on  Me(/a- 
lojihri/K  in  oil  tana,  ii.  25;  on  the  colora- 
tion of  frogs  and  toads,  ii.  26;  on  sexual 
dill'erences  in  the  Opliidiii,  ii.  72 ;  on  dif- 
ferences of  the  sexes  of  lizards,  ii.  80  et 
seqq. 

G^j/nunina  Inis,  ocellated  spots  of.  ii.  127. 

Gypsies,  unilbrmity  ot;  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  i.  233. 

H. 

Habits,  bad,  facilitated  by  familiarity,  i. 
97;  variability  of  the  force  of,  i.  liG. " 

Hackel.  E..  on  the  origin  of  man,  i.  4; 
on  riKliinciitary  charaet<.'rs,  i.  17;  on  the 
canine  tilth  in  man.  i.  121;  on  death 
caused  i>y  iiillammation  of  the  veruii- 
form  appendage,  i.  27 ;  on  the  st«'ps  by 
which  man  became  a  biped,  i.  136;  on 
man  as  a  member  of  the  Catarrhine 
prtm|),  i.  191 ;  on  the  po.sition  of  the  Lc- 
jiHiriilu'.  i.  194;  on  the  genealogy  of  the 
Manunalia,  i.  195;  on  the  lancelet,  i.  19(>; 
on  the  transparency  of  pelagic  animals, 
i.  814;  on  the  musical  powers  of  women, 
ii.  821. 

Hagen,  n.,  and  Walsh,  B.  D.,  on  Ameri- 
can neuroi)teni,  i.  306. 

Hair,  development  of,  in  man,  i.  24;  char- 
acter of,  supposed  to  be  determined  by 
light  and  heat,  i.  Ill;  tribution  of,  in 
man,  i.  144.  ii.  359;  possibly  removed  for 
ornamented  i)Urpose.s,  i.  143;  arrange- 
ment ami  direction  of,  i.  185;  of  the  ear- 
ly progenitors  of  man.  i.  198;  diH'erent 
textui-e  ot;  in  distinct  races,  i.  208;  and 
skin,  correlation  of  color  of,  i.  238;  de- 
velopment of,  in  mammals,  ii.  2C8;  man- 
agement of,  among  ditterent  peoples,  ii. 
324;  great  length  of,  in  souio  North 
American  tritx'S,  ii.  331 ;  elongation  of 
the,  on  the  human  head,  ii.3(;5. 

Hairiness.  dilTerence  of,  in  the  sexes  in 
man,  ii.  305;  variation  of,  in  races  of 
men,  ii.  306. 

Hairs  and  excretory  jjores,  numerical  re- 
lation of,  in  sheep,  i.  239. 

Hairy  family,  Siamese,  ii.  361. 

Hamadrvas  baboon,  turning  over  stones, 
L  72 ;  moue  of  the  mule,  ii.  255. 


Hamilton-.  C.  on  the  cruelty  of  the  Kaf- 
fres  to  animals,  i.  91 ;  on  the  engross- 
ment of  the  women  by  the  KalTre  chiefs, 
ii.  :«2. 

Hammering,  difficulty  o£  i,  138. 

Hancock,  A.,  on  the  colors  of  the  nudi- 
branch  mollusca,  i.  317. 

Hanus,  larger  at  birtli,  in  the  children  of 
laborers,  i.  113;  structure  of,  in  the  quad- 
rumana,  i.  134;  and  arms,  freedom  ol^  in- 
directly correlated  with  diminution  of 
canines,  i.  138. 

Handwriting,  inherited,  i.  56. 

Harcocrt.  E.  Vernon,  on  Fringillu  can- 
nahhui.  ii.  82. 

Jfareldd  y/aciiiliJi,  ii.  117. 

Hare,  protective  coloring  of  the,  U.  284. 

Hare-s.  biittles  of  male,  ii.  228. 

Harlan,  Dr.,  on  the  difference  between 
field  and  house  slaves,  i.  287. 

Harris,  J.  M.,  on  the  relation  of  com- 
plexion to  climate,  i.  2.36. 

Harris.  T.  W.,  on  the  Katy-did  locust,  1. 
842 ;  on  the  stridulation  of  the  gniss- 
lioppers,  i.  846;  on  (EcanVius  niralU,  i. 
850;  on  the  coloring  of  Lcpidoptera,  i. 
883 ;  on  the  coloring  of  Saturn  ia  Jo.  i.  383. 

Harry-long-legs,  pugnacity  of  male,  i. 
;539. 

Hart.man,  Dr.,  on  the  singing  of  Cicada 
neptendecem,  i.  340. 

Haughton,  S.,  on  a  variation  of  the^«ror 
pul/icix  lou{iii»  in  man,  i.  124. 

Hawks,  feeding  orphan  nestUng,  ii.  10.3. 

Hayes,  Dr.,  on  the  diverging  of  sledge- 
dogs  on  thin  ice.  i.  45. 

Head,  altered  position  of,  to  suit  the  erect 
attitude  of  man,  i.  138 ;  hairiness  of 
in  man,  t  142;  processes  of|  in  male 
beetles,  i.  357 ;  artificial  alterations  of  the 
form  of  the,  ii.  3;i5. 

Hearne.  on  strife  for  women  among  the 
North  .\merican  Indiiuis,  ii.  308;  on  the 
North  .Vmeriean  Indians'  notion  of  fe- 
male beauty,  ii.  828;  repeated  elope- 
ments of  a  North  American  woman,  ii. 
856. 

Heart,  in  the  human  embryo,  1. 16. 

Heat,  supposed  etfects  of  i.  111. 

llectocotijle.  i.  316. 

Hedge-warbler,  ii.  1S9;  voimg  of  the,  ii. 
200. 

Heel,  small  projection  o^  in  the  Ajmam 
Indians,  i.  115. 

Hegt,  M.,  on  the  development  of  the  spars 
in  peacocks,  i.  281. 

HELicoNiD.fi,  i.  375;  mimicry  of,  by  other 
butterliies,  i.  39S. 

Ilel iopotln'x.  stridulation  peculiar  to  the 
male,  i.  371. 

Ueliothrix  auricuiata,  young  ot,  ii.  ISO, 
ISl. 

Jlelij'  pomatia.  example  of  individual  at- 
tachment in,  i.  316. 

Hellins,  J.,  proportions  of  sexes  of  Lcpi- 
doptera reared  by,  i.  304. 

Helmiioi.tz,  on  the  \ibration  of  the  audi- 
tory hairs  of  Crustacea,  iL  317. 


INDEX. 


409 


IIemiptera,  i.  839. 

Jiemitragus,  beai-dless  in  both  sexes,  ii. 

269. 
Hepburn,  Mr.,  on  the  autumn-song'  of  the 

water-ouzel,  ii.  51. 
Ilepialiift  hiimtiH,    sexual    difference    of 

color  in  the,  i.  3S6,  390. 
Herbs,  poisonous,  avoided  by  animals,  i. 

SO. 
IlERMAPnitoniTiSM  of  embryos,  i.  199. 
I/erodias  biibu/ews,  vernal  moult  of,  ii.  SO. 
Heron,  love-gestures  of  a,  ii.  65. 
Heron,  Sir  R.,  on  the  habits  of  peafowl,  ii. 

115, 116, 146. 
Herons,   decomposed  feathers  in,  ii.  70; 

breeding-plumage  of,  ii.  78,  79;    young 

of  the,  ii.  200 ;  sometimes  dimorphic,  ii. 

205;     continued  growth    of  crest    and 

plumes  in  the  males  of  some,  ii.  206; 

change  of  color  in  some,  ii.  221. 
I/etcerina,  difference  in  the  sexes  of,  i. 

351 ;  proportion  of  the  sexes  in.  i.  306. 
I/eteroeerus,  stridulation  of,  1.  368. 
Hewitt,   Mr.,   on  a  game-cock   killing  a 

kite,  ii.  41 ;  on  the  recognition  of  dogs 

and  cats  by  ducks,  ii.l06;  on  the  pairing 

of  a  wild-duck  wth  a  jiintail  drake,  ii. 

110;  on  the  courtship  of  fowls,  ii.  112; 

on  the  coupling  of  pheasants  with  com- 
mon hens,  ii.  117. 
Hindoo,  his  horror  of  breaking  his  caste, 

i.  95,  98. 
Hindoos,  local  difference  of  stature  among, 

i.  Ill;  diffei-ence  of,  from  Europeans,  i. 

231 ;  color  of  the  beard  in,  ii.  304. 
Hipparchia    Ja/iira,    instabihty   of  the 

ocellated  spots  of,  ii.  127. 
ITipparchia,  i.  375. 
Hipptocampim,    development   of,    i.  202; 

marsupial  receptacles  of  the  male,  ii.  20. 
Hippopotamus,  nakedness  of,  i.  142. 
Hips,  proportions  of,  in  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors, i.  112. 
Hodgson,  S.,  on  the  sense  of  duty,  i.  68. 
Hoffberg,  on  the  horns  of  the  reindeer, 

ii.  233 ;  on  sexual  preferences  shown  by 

reindeer,  ii.  200. 
Hog,  wart,  ii.  253 ;  river,  ii.  254. 
Hog-deer,  ii.  289. 
Holland,  Su-  H.,  on  the  effects  of  new 

diseases,  i.  280. 
Homologous  structures,  correlated  vai-ia- 

tion  of,  i.  125. 
Ho.vopteka,  i.  340;   stridulation  of  the, 

and  orthoptera,  discussed,  i.  349. 
Honduras,  Quiscahis  major  in,  i.  29S. 
Honey-buzzard  of  India,  variation  in  the 

crest  of,  ii.  121. 
Honey-suckers,  moulting  of  the,  ii.  79 ; 

Australian,  nidification  ol,  ii.  161. 
Honor,  law  of,  i.  95. 
Hooker,  Jos.,  on  the  color  of  the  beard  in 

man,  ii.  304. 
Hoolock  Gibbon,  nose  of,  i.  184. 
Hoopoe,  ii.  53;  sounds  produced  by  the 

male,  ii.  60. 
Hoplopterus  armatus,  wing-spurs  of,  ii. 

37 


HoRNBiLL,  African,  Inflation  of  the  neck- 
wattle  of  the  male  during  com-tship,  ii. 
69. 

HoRNBiLLS,  sexual  difference  in  the  color 
of  the  eyes  in,  ii.  123 ;  nidification  and 
incubation  of,  ii.  161. 

HoRNB,  C,  on  the  rejection  of  a  brightly- 
colored  locust  by  hzards  and  birds,  i.  351. 

Horns,  of  deer,  ii.  232,  237,  248;  and  canine 
teeth,  inverse  development  of,  ii.  245, 
sexual  differences  of,  in  sheep  and  goats, 
i.  273 ;  lass  of,  in  female  merino  sheep,  i 
275 ;  development  of^  in  deer,  i.  278 ;  de- 
velopment of,  in  antelopes,  i.  280 ;  from 
the  head  and  thorax,  in  male  beetles,  i. 
857. 

Horse,  polj'gamous,  i.  258 ;  canine  teeth  of 
male,  ii.  230;  ^\Tnter  change  of  the,  ii. 
2S4;  fossil,  extinction  of  the,  in  South 
America,  i.  231. 

Horses,  dreaming,  i.  44 ;  rapid  increase  of, 
in  South  America,  i.  130 :  diminution  of 
canine  teeth  in,  i.  138;  of  the  Falkland 
Islands  and  pampas,  i.  227;  numerical 
proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i.  255,  256; 
lighter  in  wnter  in  Siberia,  i.  273 ;  sexual 
jireferenccs  in,  ii.  260;  pairing  preferent- 
ly  with  those  of  the  same  color,  ii.  2S1 ; 
numerical  proportion  of  male  and  female 
births  in,  i.  293;  formerly  striped,  ii.  291. 

Hottentot  women,  peculiarities  of.  i.  217. 

Hottentots,  lice  of,  i.  212 ;  readily  become 
nmsicians,  ii.  318;  notions  of  female 
beauty  of  the,  ii.  329;  compression  of 
nose  by,  ii.  335. 

House-slaves,  difference  of,  from  field- 
slaves,  i.  237. 

Huber,  p.,  on  ants  placing  together,  i.  38; 
on  memory  in  ants,  i.  44 ;  on  the  inter- 
communication of  ants,  i.  56 ;  on  the  rec- 
ognition of  each  other  by  ants  after  sepa- 
ration, i.  3.54. 

Hue,  on  Chinese  opinions  of  the  appear- 
ance of  Europeans,  ii.  328. 

Human  kingdom,  i.  179. 

Human  sacriiices,  i.  66. 

Humanity,  unknown  among  some  sav- 
ages, i.  91 ;  deficiency  of,  among  savages, 
i.97. 

Humboldt,  A.  von,  on  the  rationality  of 
mules,  i.  47 ;  on  a  parrot  preserving  the 
language  of  a  lost  tribe,  i.  228 ;  on  the 
cosmetic  arts  of  savages,  ii.  324;  on  tho 
exaggeration  of  natural  characters  by 
man,  ii.  834;  on  the  red  painting  of 
American  Indians,  ii.  336. 

Hume,  D.,  on  sjonpathetic  feeUngs,  i.  81. 

Hu.mmeng-bird,  racket-shaped  feathers  in 
the  tail  of  a,  ii.  70 ;  display  of  plumage 
by  the  male,  ii.  88. 

Humming-birds,  ornament  their  nests,  i. 
63,  ii.  107;  polygamous,  i.  260;  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes  in,  i.  298,  ii.  213;  sexual 
differences  in,  ii.  87,  38,  145;  pugnacity 
of  male,  ii.  38;  modified  primaries  of 
male,  ii.  62 ;  coloration  of  the  sexes  of 
ii.  75;  yoimg  ot;  ii.  211;  nidification  of 
the,  ii.  160;  colors  of  female,  ii.  160. 


410 


IXDEX. 


llrMPnttEYS,  II.  N.,  on  the  habits  of  the 
Stiekle-baek,  I.  262,  ii.  2. 

Hunger,  instinct  of,  i.  80. 

Huns,  ancient,  flattening  of  the  nose  by 
the,  ii.  S'-T). 

IluNTER,  J.,  on  the  nnnilier  of  species  of 
man,  1.  21 S;  on  secoiulary  sexual  cliarac- 
ter.s,  I.  24.') ;  on  the  trcncVal  beliavior  of 
female  aniiiialB  during  courtship,  i.  2(>4; 
on  the  nnisclcs  of  tlio  L'u-vn.v  m  son^'- 
biixls,  ii.  i>i ;  on  the  curled  trontiil  hair  of 
the  Hull.  ii.  2(i9 ;  on  tlie  rejection  of  an 
a.ss  by  a  female  zebra,  ii.  2>>1. 

IlrNTEit,  W.  W.,  on  tlie  recent  rapid  in- 
crease of  the  SantalL,  i.  12S;  on  the  San- 
tali,  i.  282. 

IIussEY,  Mr.,  on  a  partridge  di.<itingwisliing 
persons,  ii.  1(1.5. 

llrTiiiiNsox,  Colonel,  example  of  reason- 
ing in  a  retriever,  1.  46. 

IlrrroN,  C"a]>t.aln,  on  the  male  wild-goat 
falling  on  liis  horns,  ii.  2:?S. 

ncxLEY,  T.  II.,  on  the  structural  asi'ee- 
inent  of  man  with  the  apes,  i.  3;  ou  the 
agreement  of  the  brain  in  man  with  that 
of  lower  animals,  i.  10;  on  the  adult  aie 
of  the  Orang.  1. 13;  on  the  embryonic  de- 
vilopnii'Mt  of  man,  i.  14;  on  the  oriu-in 
of  num.  i.  4.  IT ;  on  variation  in  the  slculls 
of  the  natives  of  A\istraliii,  i.  104;  on  the 
at)ductor  of  the  tilth  metatarsal  in  apes, 
i.  123;  on  the  position  of  man,  i.  1S3;  on 
the  sub-orders  of  iiriiiiates,  i.  1ST;  on  the 
LeniuridiC,  i.  104;  on  the  Dinosauaria,  i. 
lOli;  on  tlie  amphibian  alliiiities  of  the 
Ichthyosaurians.  i.  I'Jij;  on  variability  of 
the  sliull  in  certain  races  of  man,  i.  21S; 
on  the  races  of  man,  i.  210. 

IIvnuiD  birds,  production  of,  ii.  109. 

llYDROPiioniA  communicable 'between  man 
and  the  lower  animals,  i.  11. 

J/i/(l roporus,  dimorphism  of  females  of, 
i.  3.3.3. 

Ifi/ehtphvx  porcintiB,  ii.  2S9. 

Jfi/grogon  iix.  ii.  20. 

Ill/hi.  sin^'iiiir  species  of.  ii.  25. 

Ili/lohaiex.  maternal  atfection  in  a,  i.  89; 
absence  of  the  thumb  in,  i.  13.");  upriirht 
progression  of  some  species  of,  i.  13T; 
direction  of  the  hair  on  the  arms  of  spe- 
cies of,  i.  Is");  females  of,  less  hairy  be- 
low than  males,  ii.  .30.'). 

JTi/IoIxiUm  (i(iilitt.  j.  135;  hair  on  the  arms 
of,  i.  Is5;  musical  voice  of  the,  ii.  2(>4; 
superciliary  ridge  of;  ii.  803 ;  voice  of,  ii. 
81G. 

IIylubatei>  Jwolock,  se.xual  difference  of 
color  iu,  ii.  2T7. 

Hylobates  lar,  i.  135 ;  hair  on  the  arms  of, 
i.  185. 

Ifi/lohiitc.i  Iciicixrii.i.  i.  IS,'). 

liijUihiilix  Kiiiiilacti/lHH,  i.  135;  laryngeal 
sac  of.  ii.  2tV!. 

llYMENOPTEn.v  i.  .35.3;  large  size  of  the  cer- 
ebral ganglia  in,  i.  139 ;  classification  of, 
1.  181 ;  sexual  dillerenccs  in  the  wings  of, 
i.  835 ;  aculeate,  relative  size  of  the  sexes 
of,  i.  837. 


IIvMENOPTEEON,  parafiitic,  with  a  scden- 

tai-y  male,  1.  264. 
Ifi/omoKchim  aqitaticw),  11.  289. 
lli/perythra,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  1. 

301. 
Ifypogi/mna  ilispar,  sexual  differenco  of 

color  in,  i.  3?0. 
I/ypopyrd.  coloration  of,  i.  854. 


I, 


Ibex,  male,  falling  on  his  horns,  il.  233; 

beard  of  the,  ii.  269. 
Ibis,  scarlet,  young  of  the,  Ii.  199;  white, 

change  of  color  of  naked  skin  in,  during 

tlie  breeding-season,  ii.  TO. 
IbiH  tantalim,  age  of  mature  plumage  in,  ii. 

204;  breeding  In  immature  plumage,  ii. 

20.5,  206. 
Ibise-s,   decomposed    feathers    in,    ii.  71 ; 

white,  ii.  21 S,  and  black,  ii.  220. 
IriixEU.MOXiDjj,  dillerence  of  the  sexes  In, 

i.  3.M. 

IrnTIIYOPTERYGH,  120. 
ICIITIIYOSAURIAN.S,  ii.  190. 

Ideas,  general,  i.  60. 

Idiots,  microcephalous,  imitative  faculties 
of,  i.  55;  microcephalous,  tlieir  characters 
and  habits,  i.  116. 

/tjitand  iiiliereu/ata,  ii.  31. 

Iguanas,  ii.  30. 

Illegitimate  .and  legitimate  children,  pro- 
portion of  the  sexes  in.  i.  292. 

Imagination,  existence  ot;  in  animals,  i.  44. 

Imitation,  i.  3S;  of  niiin  by  monkeys,  i. 
42;  tendency  to,  in  monkeys,  microce- 
phalous idiots  and  savages,  i.  55;  In- 
fluence oC  i.  155. 

Immature  plum.age  of  birds,  ii.  175, 179. 

Implacentata,  i.  194. 

Lmplements,  employed  by  monkeys,  i.  49  ; 
fashioning  of.  ](eculiar  to  man,  i.  51. 

Lmpregnation,  period  of;  influence  of,  up- 
on sex.  i.  293. 

Lmprovement.  progressive,  man  alone  sup- 
posed to  be  capable  of,  i.  48. 

Incisor  teeth,  knocked  out  or  filed  by 
some  savages,  ii.  324. 

Increase,  rate  of,  i.  126;  necessity  of 
checks  in,  i.  1.30. 

Indecency,  hatred  of;  a  modem  virtue,  i. 
92. 

India,  difficultj'  of  distinguishing  the  na- 
tive races  of,"i.  20T;  C'yprinidw  of,  ii.  IT; 
color  of  the  beard  in  riices  of  men  of,  ii. 
304. 

Indian.  Xorth  American,  honored  for  scalp- 
ing a  man  of  another  tribe,  i.  90. 

Individuality,  i.  00. 

Individuation,  i.  810. 

Jiitlopicus  ciirlotta,  colons  of  the  sexes  ofj 
ii.  16T. 

IsKANTiriDE,  prev.ilence  of.  i.90, 129;  sup- 
posed cause  of,  ii.  328;  prevalenca  and 
causes  oi;  ii.  847,  et  seq. 

Inferiority,  supposed  physical,  of  man,  1 
150. 


INDEX. 


411 


Infiammatio>"  of  the  bowels,  occurrence 

o^  in  Cebtis  Asarce,  i.  12. 
Inheritance,  i.  106 ;  of  etfects  of  use  of 
vocal  and  mental  organs,  i.  56;  of  moral 
tendencies,  i.  9S,  100;  of  long  and  short 
sip-ht,  i.  Hi;  laws  of,  i.  2T0;  sexual,  i. 
276 ;  sexually  limited,  li.  147. 

Inquisition,  influence  of  the,  i.  172. 

Insanitt,  hereditary,  i.  107. 

Insect,  fossil,  from  the  Devonian,  i.  349. 

Insectivoka,  ii.  272;  absence  of  secondary 
sexual  characters  in,  i.  259. 

Insects,  relative  size  of  the  cerebral  pan- 
gha  in,  i.  139 ;  male,  appearance  of  befors 
the  females,  i.  252 ;  pursuit  of  female,  by 
the  males,  i.  263 ;  period  of  development 
of  sexual  characters  in,  i.  2S2 ;  secondary 
sexual  characters  of,  i.  831 ;  stridulation 
of,  ii.  315. 

Insessores,  vocal  organs  of,  ii.  52. 

Instep,  depth  of  in  soldiers  and  sailors,  i. 
112. 

Instinct  and  intellig-ence,  i.  36. 

Instinct,  migratoiy,  vanquishing  the  ma- 
ternal, i.  80,  SI. 

Instinctive  actions,  the  result  of  inheri- 
tance, i.  77. 

Instinctive  impulses,  dilference  of  tlie 
force  of,  i.  83,  85;  and  moral  impulses, 
alliance  of,  i.  S4. 

Instincts,  i.  35 ;  complex  origin  of,  through 
natural  selection,  i.  37 ;  possible  origin  of 
some,  i.  37 ;  acquired,  of  domestic  auimaJs, 
i.  76 ;  variabihty  of  the  force  of,  i.  79 ;  dif- 
ference of  force  between  the  social  and 
other,  i.  85,  99 ;  utilized  for  now  pm-poses, 
ii.  319. 

Instrumental  music  of  birds,  ii.  59,  64. 

Intellect,  influence  of,  in  natural  selection 
in  civiUzed  society,  i.  164. 

Intellectual  faculties,  their  influence  on 
natm-al  selection  in  man,  i.  152 ;  probably 
perfected  thi-ough  natural  selection,  i. 
154. 

Intellioence,  Mr.  H.  Spencer  on  the  dawn 
of,  i.  36. 

Intemperance,  no  reproach  among  sav- 
ages, i.  92;  its  destructiveness,  i.  166. 

Intoxication  in  monkeys,  i.  12. 

Iphius  glaiKippe,  i.  381. 

Iris,  sexual  difference  in  the  color  of  the, 
in  birds,  ii.  69,  123. 

Iscnio-PUBic  muscle,  i.  122. 

Ithaginis  cruentus,  number  of  spui-s  in,  ii. 
44. 

lulvs,  tarsal  suckers  of  the  males  of,  i.  330. 


J. 

.Tackals  learning  to  bark  from  dogs,  i.  43. 

Jaok-snipe,  coloration  of  the,  ii.  2i6. 

Jacquinot,  on  the  number  of  species  of 
man,  i.  218. 

Jaegee,  Dr.,  on  the  diflSculty  of  approach- 
ing herds  of  wild  animals,  i.  71 ;  on  the 
increase  of  length  in  bones,  i.  112 ;  on  the 


deposition  of  a  male  Silver-pheasant  on 

account  of  a  spoiled  plumage,  ii.  11&. 
Jaguars,  black,  ii.  280. 
Janson,  E.  W.,  on  the  proportions  of  the 

sexes  in    Tomicu-a  tUIosus,   i.  305;  on 

stridulant  beetles,  i.  867. 
Japan,   encouragement  of  licentiousness 

in,  i.  129. 
Japanese,  general  beardlessncss  of  the,  ii. 

306;  aversion  of  the,  to  whiskers,  ii.  832. 
Jardine,  Sir  W.,  on  the  Argus  pheasant, 

ii.  69.  93. 
Jareold,  Dr.,   on    modifications    of    the 

skuU  induced  by  unnatural  position,  i. 

Javanese,  relative  height  of  the  sexes  o^ 
ii.  305 ;  notions  of  female  beauty,  ii.  .331. 

Jaw,  influence  of  the  muscles  of  the,  upon 
the  physiognomy  of  the  apes,  i.  183. 

Jaws,  smaller  in  the  same  ratio  with  the 
extremities,  i.  113;  influence  of  food 
upon  the  size  of  i.  118;  diminution  of  in 
man,  i.  188 ;  in  man,  reduced  by  correla- 
tion, ii.  309. 

Jay,  voung  of  the,  ii.  200 ;  Canada,  young 
of  the,  ii.  200. 

Jays,  new  mates  found  by,  ii.  100;  dis- 
tinguishing persons,  ii.  105. 

Jeffreys,  J.  Gwyn,  on  the  form  of  the 
shell  in  the  sexes  of  the  Gasteropoda,  i. 
315 ;  on  the  Influence  of  light  upon  the 
colors  of  shells,  i.  817. 

Jelly-fish,  bright  colors  of  some,  i.  313. 

Jenner,  Dr.,  on  the  voice  of  the  rook,  ii. 
58 ;  on  the  finding  of  new  mates  b.y  mag- 
pies, ii.  99 ;  on  retardation  of  the  genera- 
tive organs  in  birds,  ii.  103. 

Jenyns,  L.,  on  the  desertion  of  their  young 
by  swallows,  i.  80 ;  on  male  birds  sing- 
ing after  the  proper  season,  ii.  103. 

Jeruon,  Dr.,  on  birds  dreaming,  i.  44 ;  on 
the  pugnacity  of  the  male  bulbul,  ii.  39; 
on  the  puguacity  of  the  male  Ot-tygornis 
gii/df/N,  ii.  42;  on  the  spurs  of  Gallo- 
y>tv</;,/',  ii.  44;  on  the  habits  of  Lobita- 
vellu.i,  ii.  46;  on  the  spoonbfll,  ii.  57;  on 
the  drumming  of  the  Kalij-pheasant,  ii. 
CO ;  on  Indian  bustards,  li.  62 ;  on  Otis 
Bengalensia,  ii.  66;  on  the  ear-tufts  of 
Sypheotide.s  auritus^  ii.  70;  on  the 
double  moults  of  certain  birds,  ii.  79 ;  on 
the  moulting  of  the  honey-suckers,  ii.  79 ; 
on  the  moulting  of  bustards,  plovers,  and 
drongos,  ii.  SO ;  on  display  in  male  birds, 
ii.  82 ;  on  the  spring  change  of  color  in 
some  finches,  ii.  82;  on  the  display  of 
the  under  taU-coverts  by  the  male  bul- 
bul, ii.  91 ;  on  the  Indian  honey-buzzard, 
ii.  121 ;  on  sexual  differences  in  the  color 
of  the  eyes  of  hornbills,  ii.  123 ;  on  the 
markings  of  the  Tragopan  pheasant,  ii. 
128 ;  on  the  nidification  of  the  Orioles,  ii. 
160;  on  the  nidification  of  the  hornbills, 
ii.  11)1 ;  on  the  Sultan  yellow-tit,  ii.  167 ; 
on  I'ulaiornis  Javanictis,  ii.  172;  on  the 
immatm-o  plumage  of  birds,  ii.  178,  et 
seq. ;  on  representative  species  of  bu'ds, 
ii.  182 ;  on  the  habits  of  Turnix,  ii.  193 ; 


412 


INDEX. 


on  the  continued  Increase  of  beauty  of 
the  p»acock,  ii.  207;  on  coloration  in 
the  genus  l'tit<TorniM,  ii.  221. 

Jevoss,  W.  S.,  on  the  migrations  of  man, 
1. 130. 

Jews,  ancient  use  of  flint  tooLs  by  the,  i. 
170;  nniforinitv  of,  in  various  7)arts  of 
the  world,  i.  243 ;  numerical  proportion 
of  male  and  female  births  among  the,  i. 
291 ;  ancient  tattooing  practised  by,  ii. 
823. 

JoiiNSTOKE,  Lieutenant,  on  the  Indian  ele- 
phant, i.  2iV,). 

JoLLOFS.  fine  appearance  of  the,  ii.  341. 

Jones.  .Vlbert,  juxiportion  of  sc.\es  of  Le- 
pidojitera,  roared  by,  i.  304. 

Juan  Feenaxdez,  humming-birds  oC  ii. 
212. 

Junonia,  sexual  differences  of  coloring  in 
species  o£  i.  377. 

Jupiter,  Greek  statues  o£  ii.  3S3. 


Kaffp.e  skull,  occmTonce  of  the  diastema 
in  a,  i.  121. 

Kaffkes,  their  cruelty  to  animals.  1.  90; 
Uce  of  the,  i.  213;  color  of  the,  ii.  380; 
engrossment  of  the  handsomest  women 
by  the  chiefs  of  the,  ii.  302:  marriage- 
customs  of  the,  ii.  Si>~. 

Kalij-piieasant.  drumming  of  the  male, 
ii.  59;  young  of.  ii.  182. 

KaUima.  resemblance  of,  to  a  withered 
leaf,  i.  3S0. 

Kangaroo,  groat  red,  sexual  difference  in 
the  color  of,  ii.  273. 

Kant,  Immanuol,  on  duty,  i.  67 ;  on  self- 
restraint,  i.  88;  on  the  number  of  species 
of  man,  i.  218. 

Katy-did.  stridulation  of  the,  i.  342. 

Keller,  Dr..  on  tlu'  dilliculty  of  fashioning 
stone  imiiloiiunts,  i.  1;«. 

Kestrels,  now  mates  found  bv,  ii.  100. 

Kidney,  i.  112. 

King,  W.  R.,  on  the  vocal  organs  of  Tetrao 
citpido,  ii.  55;  on  the  drumming  of 
grouse,  ii.  60 ;  on  the  reindeer,  ii.  2.33 ; 
on  the  attraction  of  male  deer  by  the 
voice  of  the  female,  ii.  2C>3.  . 

King  and  Fitzroy,  on  the  marriage-cus- 
toms of  the  Fuegians,  ii.  357. 

Kino-prows,  niditication  of.  ii.  160. 

KiNGFisriRR,  ii.  5:?;  racket-shaped  feathers 
in  the  tiiil  of  a,  ii.  70. 

Kingfisuerb,  colors  and  nidificaf  ion  of  the, 
ii.  16:3,  165,  16S;  imniatuio  plumage  of 
the,  ii.  ISO,  1S2;  young  of  the,  ii.  200. 

King  Lory,  ii.  166;  immaluie  plumage 
ofthe.  ii.  180. 

Kingsley,  C,  x)n  the  sounds  produced  by 
Vmhrina.  ii.  22. 

Kikuy  and  Spence,  on  the  courtship  of  in- 
sects, i.  263;  on  sexual  differences  in  the 
length  of  the  snout  in  curculionidie,  i. 
247 ;  on  the  elytra  of  Ih/tincm,  i.  333 ;  on 
pef  ullarities  in  the  legs  "of  male  insects,  i. 


834 ;  on  the  relative  size  ofthe  sexes  In  !■- 
sects,  i.  335 ;  on  the  luminosity  of  Insects, 
i.  3:55;  on  the  Fulgoridn>.  i.  840 ;  on  the 
hal)it.s  of  Termites,  i.  353 ;  on  difference 
of  color  in  the  sexes  of  beetles.  1.  356;  on 
the  horns  of  the  male  Liinellicorn  beetles 
I.  859 ;  on  hornlike  processes  in  m-'ile 
eurculionida".  i.  36:3;  on  the  pugnacity 
of  the  male  f-tag-beetle.  i.  364. 

Kite,  killed  by  a  game-cock.  ii.  42. 

Knot,  retention  of  winter  plumage  by  the, 
ii.  78. 

Kvox,  E.,  on  the  semilunar  fold,  i.  23 ;  on 
the  occurrence  of  the  supra-condyloid 
foramen  in  the  humerus  of  man,  i.  27 ; 
on  the  features  of  the  young  Memnon,  i. 
209. 

Koala,  length  ofthe  caecum  in,  1.  26. 

KoLREUTEii,  on  the  sterility  of  hybrid 
jiiants.  i.  215. 

KubiM  e/lipfciprymniis,  proportion  ofthe 
sexes  in,  i.  296. 

Koonoo,  develoi>ment  of  the  horns  of  the, 
i.  279 ;  markings  of  the,  ii.  2S7. 

KOppen,  F.  T.,  on  the  migratory  locust,  1. 
342. 

KoRUOFAN,  protuberances  artificially  pro- 
duced in,  ii.  323. 

Kowalevsky,  a.,  on  the  affinitj-  of  the 
Ascidia  to  the  A'ertebrata,  i.  197. 

Kowalevsky,  W.,  on  the  pugnacity  of  the 
male  Capercailzie,  ii.  42 ;  on  the  pairing 
of  the  Capercailzie,  ii.  47. 

Kkause,  on  a  convoluted  body  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  tail  in  a  Macacus  and  a 
cat,  i.  29. 

KuppFER.  Prof,  on  the  affinity  of  the  As- 
cidia  to  the  Vertebrata,  i.  197. 


L. 

Lahidocera  Danrinii,  prehensile  organs 
of  the  male,  i.  320. 

Labrus,  splendid  coloi-s  of  the  species  of, 
ii.  15. 

Labrus  mixtiis.  sexual  differences  in,  ii.  9. 

Labrus  pavo,  ii.  15. 

Laceutilia,  sexual  differences  of.  ii.  80. 

Lafresnave,  M.  de,  on  Uhtls  of  Paradise, 
ii.  73. 

La.m.\rck.  on  the  origin  of  man,  i.  4. 

La.mellibrancuiat.^  i.  315. 

Lamellicorn  beetles,  horn-like  pi-ocessos 
from  the  head  and  thorax  of  i.  357.  802 ; 
analogy  of,  to  Kuminants,  i.  361;  influ- 
ence of  sexual  si-lection  on.  i.  36.'). 

Lamellicounia,  stridulation  of  i.  36S. 

Lamont.  Mr.,  on  the  tusks  of  the  Ayah-us, 
ii.  231 ;  on  the  use  of  its  tusks  by  the 
Walru.s.  ii.  245. 

Latnporu  is  porp/iyruru8,'co\ors  ofthe  fe- 
male, ii.  160. 

Lancelet.  i.  196,  204. 

Landois.  H..  on  the  pro<luction  of  sound 
by  the  Cicadcp.  i.  340 ;  on  the  stridulating 
organ  of  the  Crickets,  i.  344 ;  on  Dwti- 
cus,  i.  845;  on  the  stridiUating  oi-gans  of 


INDEX. 


41^ 


the  Acridiidfe,  i.  345;  on  the  presence  of 
rudimentary  stridulating  organs  in  some 
female  Orthoptera,  i.  34S ;  on  the  stridu- 
lation  of  ]S^ecrophorii.%  i.  367 ;  on  the 
stridulant  organ  of  Cerambyx  heros,  i. 
36S;  on  the  stridulating  organs  in  the 
Coleoptera,  1.  370;  on  the  ticking  of 
Anobium,i.  373;  on  the  stridulant  or- 
gan of  Geotrupes,  i.  369. 

Language  an  art,  i.  53 ;  articulate,  origin 
of,  1.  54;  relation  of  the  progress  of,  to 
the  development  of  the  brain,  i.  55;  ef- 
fects of  inheritance  in  production  of,  1. 
56 ;  complex  structure  of,  among  barbar- 
ous nations,  i.  59 ;  natural  selection  in,  i. 
59 ;  gesture,  i.  224 ;  primeval,  i.  226 ;  of 
a  lost  tribe  preserved  by  a  parrot,  i.  22S. 

Languages,  presence  of  rudiments  in,  i. 
53 ;  classification  of,  i.  58 ;  variability  of, 
i.  53 ;  crossing  or  blending  of,  i.  53 ;  com- 
plexity of,  no  test  of  perfection  or  proof 
of  special  creation,  i.  60 ;  resemblance  of, 
evidence  of  community  of  origin,  i.  182. 

Languages  and  species,  identity  of  evi- 
dence of  then-  gradual  development,  i. 
57, 

Lanius,  ii.  172;  characters  of  young,  li. 
177. 

Lanius  I'tifu.s.  anom.alous  )-oung  of,  ii.  202. 

Lankester,  E.  E.,  on  comparative  longev- 
ity, i.  161,  164;  on  the  destructive  effects 
of  intemperance,  i.  166. 

Lanugo,  of  the  human  fcetus,  i.  25 ;  ii.  359. 

Lapponian  language,  highly  artificial,  i.  59. 

Lark,  pi-oportion  of  the  sextjs  in  the,  i. 
298;  female,  singing  of  the,  ii.  51. 

Larks,  attracted  by  a  mirror,  ii.  107. 

Lartet,  E.,  on  the  size  of  the  brain  in 
mammals,  i.  49 ;  comparison  of  cr.uiial 
capacities  of  skulls  of  recent  and  tertiary 
manoonals,  i.  140;  on  JJri/opithectin,  i. 
191. 

Lartis,  seasonal  change  of  plumage  in,  ii. 
218. 

Larva,  luminous,  of  a  Brazihan  beetle,  i. 
335. 

Larynx,  muscles  of  the,  in  song-birds,  ii. 
52. 

Lasiooampa  qiiercus,  attraction  of  males 
by  the  female,  i.  303 ;  sexual  difference 
of  color  in,  i.  386. 

Latham,  K.  G.,  on  the  migrations  of  man, 
i.  131. 

Latooka,  perforation  of  the  lower  lip  by 
the  women  of,  ii.  325. 

Laurillasd,  on  the  abnormal  division  of 
the  malar  bone  in  man,  i.  119. 

L.\.WRENOE,  W.,  on  the  superiority  of  sav- 
ages to  Europeans  in  power  of  sight,  i. 
114;  on  the  color  of  negro  infants,  ii. 
303 ;  on  the  fondness  of  savages  for  or- 
naments, ii.  322 ;  on  beardless  races,  ii. 
332 ;  on  the  beauty  of  the  English  aris- 
tocracy, ii.  341. 

La  YARD,  E.  L.,  on  an  Instance  of  rational- 
ity in  a  Cobra,  ii.  29 ;  on  the  pugnacity 
of  Gallus  Stanley i,  ii.  42. 

Laycock,  Dr.,  on  vital  periodicity,  i.  12. 


Leaves,  decaj-ing,  tints  of,  i.  314. 

Lecky,  Mr.,  on  the  sense  of  duty,  i.  68 ;  on 
suicide,  i.  90;  on  the  practice  of  ceUbaey, 
i.  92 ;  his  view  of  the  crimes  of  savages, 
i.  93 ;  on  the  gradual  rise  of  morality,  i. 
99. 

Leconte,  J.  L.,  on  the  stridulant  organ  in 
the  Coprini  and  Dynastini,  i.  369. 

Lee,  IL,  on  the  numerical  proportion  of 
the  sexes  in  the  trout,  i.  299. 

Leg,  calf  of  the,  artificially  modified,  ii. 
324. 

Legitimate  and  illegitimate  children,  pro- 
portion of  the  sexes  in,  i.  292. 

Legs,  variation  of  the  length  of  the,  in 
man,  i.  104 ;  proportions  of,  in  soldiers 
and  sailors,  i.  112;  fore-,  atrophied  in 
some  male  butterflies,  i.  334 ;  peculiar- 
ities of  in  male  insects,  i.  334. 

"LEK"ofthe  black-cock  and  capercailzie, 
ii.  96. 

Lemoine,  Albert,  on  the  origin  of  language, 
i.  54. 

Lemur  macaco^  sexual  difference  of  color 
in,  ii.  276. 

LEMURID.E.  i.  187;  their  origin,  i.  204;  po- 
sition and  derivation  of  the,  i.  194 ;  ears 
of  the,  i.  22 ;  variabiUty  of  the  muscles  in 
the,  i.  123. 

Lemurs,  uterus  in  the,  i.  IIS;  tailless  spe- 
cies of,  i.  187. 

Leopards,  black,  ii.  280. 

LEPIDOPTER.A,  i.  374;  numerical  propor- 
tions of  the  sexes  in  the,  i.  301 ;  coloring 
of,  i.  375;  oceliated  spots  of,  ii.  127. 

L^ejndosiren,  i.  196,  204. 

Lenguas,  disfigurement  of  the  ears  of  the, 
ii.  325. 

Leptorhynehus  angustatus,  pugnacity  of 
male,  i.  363. 

Leptura  teMacea,  difference  of  color  in  the 
sexes  of  i.  356. 

Lequay,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  supra- 
coudyloid  foramen  in  the  humerus  of 
man,  i.  23. 

Leroy,  on  the  wariness  of  young  foxes  in 
hunting-districts,  i.  48 ;  on  the  desertion 
of  their  young  by  swallows,  i.  80. 

Lesse,  valley  of  the,  i.  28. 

Lesson,  on  the  Bu-ds  of  Paradise,  i.  260, 
ii.  93 ;  on  the  sea-elephant,  ii.  265. 

Lestiti  bombylans,  difference  of  the  sexes 
in,  i.  354. 

Let/irus  cephalotes,  pugnacity  of  the 
males  of,  i.  360,  364. 

Leuckaet,  E.,  on  the  vesiculaprostatioa^ 
i.  30 ;  on  the  influence  of  the  age  of  par- 
ents on  the  se,x  of  offspring,  i.  292. 

Lefator  clamculcn  muscle,  i.  123. 

Libellula  depressa,  color  of  the  male,  i. 
352. 

Libei,lulid.e,  relative  size  of  the  sexes  ofj 
i.  337 ;  ditference  in  the  sexes  ot,  i.  351. 

Lice  of  domestic  animals  and  man,  i.  211. 

Licentiousness,  prevalence  of,  among  sav- 
ages, i.  92 ;  a  check  upon  population,  i. 
129. 

Lichtensteln,  on  Chera  progne,  ii.  115. 


414 


INDEX. 


Liri:.  inlifrltancc  at  corresponding  periods 
of  i.  271,  'iTli. 

LiCfiiT,  supposed  o(T(*cts  of,  i.  Ill;  Influ- 
ence ot;  upon  tlio  colors  of  shells,  i.  317. 

Lii.FOiiD,  Lonl.  tho  ruff  attracted  by  bright 
object.s,  ii.  107. 

LimoKii  lapponica,  ii.  195. 

Liiiiiria,  ii.  17'i. 

Linaria  montana.  1.  29S. 

LiSN.Ers,  views  of,  as  to  the  position  of 
m.in,  i.  is:?. 

Linnet,  numerical  proportion  of  the  sex- 
es in  tlie,  i.  29S;  crimson  forehead  and 
breast  of  tUe,  ii.  b'2 ;  courtship  of  the,  ii. 
90. 

Lini/phin,  i.  32S. 

Lion,  poly^ramous.  i.  259 ;  mane  of  the.  de- 
fensive, ii.  254 ;  roaring  of  the,  ii.  262. 

Lions,  stripes  of  young,  ii.  176. 

Lii's,  piercing  of  "the,  by  savages,  ii.  325. 

LithohiuK,  prehensile  'appendages  of  the 
female,  i.  830. 

Lit/ioKi'd.  coloration  in.  i.  3S-3. 

Littorhid  lldorea,  i.  315. 

LiviNiiSTONE.  Dr.,  on  the  influence  of 
dami)noss  and  dryness  on  tlic  color  of 
the  skin,  i.  233 ;  on  the  liability  of  ne- 
groes to  trojiical  frvers  after  residence  in 
a  cold  climate,  i.  234;  on  the  spur- 
winged  goose,  ii.  44 ;  on  weaver-birds, 
ii.  60;  on  an  African  night-jar,  ii.  69,  92; 
on  the  l)attle-scars  of  South  Afric.in  male 
m;inuiial.s,  ii.  22S;  on  the  removal  of  the 
u])per  inci-sors  by  the  Batolcas!,  ii.  824; 
on  the  perforation  of  the  upper  Hp  by 
the  Malcalolo,  ii.  326:  on  the  Banv.ii,  ii. 
827. 

Livonia,  numerical  proportion  of  male  and 
feiiKilo  births  in.  i.  292. 

LiZAKDs,  relative  size  of  the  se.vcs  of,  ii.  80; 
gular  pouches  of  ii.  31. 

Lloyd,  L.,  on  the  polygamy  of  the  caper- 
cailzie and  bustard,  i.  261 ;  on  the  numer- 
ical proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the  caper- 
cailzie and  black-cock,  i.  297 ;  on  the  sal- 
mon, ii.  5 ;  on  the  colors  of  tho  sea-scor- 
pion, ii.  9;  on  the  pugnacity  of  male 
grouse,  ii.  42 ;  on  the  capercailzie  and 
bl.ick-cock,  ii.  47,  52;  on  the  call  of  the 
capercailzie,  ii.  5S;  on  assemblages  of 
grouse  and  snipes,  ii.  97 ;  on  the  pairing 
of  a  shield-drake  with  a  common  ducli, 
ii.  109;  on  the  battles  of  seals,  ii.  229;  on 
the  elk.  ii.  238. 

LohieiineltiiA,  wing-spurs  in.  ii.  4G. 

Local  influences,  eft'ect  of,  upon  stature,  i. 
110. 

LocKwooD,  Mr.,  on  tlio  development  of 
Ilippocdmpua.  i.  201. 

LocisT.  bright-colored,  rejected  by  lizai-ds 
and  birds,  i.  3.00. 

LorrsT.  migratory,  i.  342. 

Loci'sriD.E,  stridiilation  of  the,  i.  341,  343  ; 
descent  of  the,  i.  346. 

LoNGironx  beetles,  ditference  of  tlie  sexes 
of,  in  color,  i.  356 ;  stridulation  of,  i.  36S. 

Lonsdale,  Mr.,  on  an  example  of  personal 
attachment  in  JMUr  pomatia,  1.  316. 


LopMonnANrmi,  marsupial  receptacles  of 
the  male.  il.  20. 

Lf>j)li(i]ih(>run.  habits  of.  ii.  116. 

Lojiliiiriiui  (itni,  sexual  difl'erencc  in  color- 
ation of,  ii.  216. 

Lophornin  ornatuK  ii.  73. 

LoKD.  J.  K.,  on  Siibno  lijcrtorlon,  ii.  5. 

Lory,  King,  ii.  160;  immature  plumage  of 
the,  ii.  18). 

LovE-ANTics  and  dances  of  bu^ls.  ii.  65. 

LowsE,  B.  T.,  on  Mu«ca  vomitoria,  i.  140, 
839. 

Loriti.  characters  of  young  of,  ii.  176. 

LrBBOCK,  Sir  J.,  on  "the  antiquity  of  man, 
i.  3;  on  tlie  origin  of  man,  i.  4;  on  tho 
inentiil  capacity  of  savages,  i.  Sj ;  on  the 
origin  of  implements,  i.  51 ;  on  the  sim- 
plilication  of  languages,  i.  60 ;  on  the  ab- 
sence of  the  idea  of  God  among  certain 
races  of  men.  i.  63 ;  on  the  origin  of  tho 
belief  in  spiritual  agencies,  i.  06 ;  on  su- 
j)erstitions,  i.  66;  on  tho  sense  of  duty.  i. 
6S;  on  the  practice  of  bin-ying  theold 
and  sick  among  the  Fljians.  i.  74:  non- 
])revalence  of  suicide  among  the  lowest 
barbarians,  i.  90;  on  the  immorality  of 
savages,  i.  93;  on  Mr.  Wallace's  cLiiin  to 
the  origination  of  tlie  idea  of  natural  se- 
lection, i.  132 ;  on  the  absence  of  remorse 
among  sav.iges,  i.  15-^;  on  the  former  bar- 
barism of  ci\nlized  nations,  i.  174;  on  im- 
provements in  the  arts  among  savages.  1. 
175;  on  resemblances  of  the  mental  char- 
acters in  dilfercnt  races  of  men,  i.  224 ;  on 
the  power  of  counting  in  primeval  man, 
i.  225 ;  on  tlie  aits  pi-.ictisc-d  by  savages, 
i.  225;  on  the  prehinsile  organs  of  the 
male  Labidocera  Ddrtrhiii,  i.  820;  on 
Chloeon,  i.  3.31 ;  on  Smijuthurtiit  luteut>, 
i.  3;5S ;  on  strife  tor  women  among  the 
North  American  Indians,  ii.  30s;  on  mu- 
sic, ii.  318;  on  the  ornament;il  pnictices 
of  savages,  ii.  ;322;  on  the  estimation  of 
tho  beard  among  the  Anglo-Sa.xon.s,  ii. 
833;  on  artificial  deformation  of  the  skull, 
ii.  835;  on  "communal  marriages."  ii. 
842,344;  on  exogamy,  ii.  ;i44, 34S ;  on  the 
Veddahs,  ii.  347 ;  on  polyandry,  ii.  349. 

LrcANiD.E,  variabiUty  of  the  m"andiblcs  in 
the  male,  i.  364. 

Lucaniis,  large  size  of  males  of,  i.  836. 

Lucanus  cerriiJ),  numerical  proportion  of 
sexes  of,  i.  305;  weapons  of  the  male,  i. 
364. 

Liw(inii.i  elaphriH,  use  of  mandibles  o^  i. 
365 ;  large  jaws  of  male,  i.  3:52. 

LlTCAS,  Prosper,  on  sexual  preference  In 
horses  and  bulKs,  ii.  260. 

Lunar  periods,  i.  204. 

Lund,  I)r..  on  skulls  foimd  in  Brazilian 
caves,  i.  210. 

Lungs,  enlargement  of,  in  the  Quecliua  and 
Aymani  Indians,  i.  1 15 ;  a  modified  swim- 
bliidder,  i.  198;  different  capacity  of;  in 
races  of  man,  i.  208. 

Lr.MiNOSiTY  in  insects,  i.  885. 

LuscHKA,  Prof,  on  the  termination  of  tho 
coccy.x,  i.  29. 


INDEX. 


415 


LtrsT,  mstinct  of,  i.  So. 

Ltjstjet,  comparatively  innocuous,  i.  l&i. 

Z)/C(vna,  sexual  difl'erences  of  coloring  iu 
species  of,  i.  3TS. 

Lyell,  Sii-  C.,  on  the  antiquity  of  man,  i. 
8 ;  on  the  origin  of  man,  i.  4 ;  on  the  par- 
allelism of  the  development  of  species  and 
languages,  i.  57 ;  on  the  extinction  of  lan- 
guages, i.  58;  on  the  Inquisition,  i.  171; 
on  the  fossil  remains  of  vertebrata,  i.  193 ; 
on  the  fertility  of  mulattoes,  i.  213. 

Ltkx,  Canadian,  tlu-oat-ruff  of  the,  ii.  255. 

LYEE-BrRi),  assemblies  of;  ii.  97. 


OT. 

Macacus,  ears  of,  i.  22 ;  convoluted  body  in 
the  exti-emity  of  the  tail  of,  i.  29 ;  varia- 
bility of  the  tail  in  species  of,  i.  144 ;  whis- 
kers of  species  of,  ii.  269. 

Maoaciis  cynomolgus,  superciliary  ridge 
of,  ii.  303;  beard  and  whiskers  of,  be- 
coming white  with  age,  ii.  304. 

Macacus  inornatus,  1. 145. 

Macacus  kmotiis,  facial  spots  of,  ii.  295. 

Macacus  radiatus,  i.  1S4. 

Macacus  rheftun,  sexual  diflerenco  in  the 
color  of,  ii.  279,  295. 

Macalistee,  Prof,  on  variations  of  the 
palmaris  accessor h(s  muscle,  i.  105;  on 
muscular  abnormalities  in  man,  i.  123, 
124;  on  the  greater  variabihty  of  the 
muscles  in  men  than  in  women,  i.  266. 

Macaws,  Mr.  Buxton's  obsei-vations  on,  1. 
76 ;  screams  of,  ii.  58. 

McCann,  J.,  on  mental  individuaUty,  i.  61. 

McClelland,  J.,  on  the  Indian  cypi-inidie, 
ii.  17. 

Macculloch,  Colonel,  on  an  Indian  village 
%vithout  any  female  children.  ii>  348. 

Macculloch,  Dr.,  on  tertian  ague  in  a  dog, 
i.  13. 

Maggilliveay,  W..  on  the  vocal  organs  of 
birds,  i.  57;  on  the  Egyptian  goose,  ii. 
44;  on  the  habits  of  woodpeckers,  ii.  Cil; 
on  the  habits  of  the  snipe,  ii.  61 ;  on  the 
whitethroat,  ii.  66;  on  the  moulting  of 
the  snipes,  ii.  79 ;  on  the  moulting  of  the 
auatidie,  ii.  81 ;  on  the  finding  of  new 
mates  by  magpies,  ii.  99 ;  on  the  pauing 
of  a  blackbird  and  thrush,  ii.  109 ;  on  pied 
ravens,  ii.  121 ;  on  the  guillemots,  ii.  122 ; 
on  the  colors  of  the  tits,  ii.  166;  on  the 
Immature  plumage  of  birds,  ii.  178;  et 
seqq. 

Mac?ietes,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii.  207. 

Machetes  jnignaa;  numerical  proportion 
of  the  sexes  in,  i.  297 ;  supposed  to  be 
polygamous,  i.  261;  pugnacity  of  the 
male,  ii.  39 ;  double  moult  in,  ii.  78. 

Mackintosh,  on  the  moral  sense,  i.  67. 

MacLachlan,  K.,  on  Apatania  muliebris 
and  Boreus  ki/emalls,  i.  306;  on  the 
anal  appendages  of  male  insects,  i.  332 ; 
on  the  pau'ing  of  dragon-flies,  i.  337 ;  on 
di-agon-fiies,  i.  351,  352 ;  on  dimorphism 
in  Agrio7i,  i.  852 ;  on  the  want  of  pugna- 


city in  male  dragon-flies,  i.  353;  on  tho 
ghost-moth  in  the  Shetland  Islands,  1. 
390. 

McLennan,  Mr.,  on  the  origin  of  the  be- 
hef  in  spiritual  agencies,  i.  63;  on  the 
prevalence  of  licentiousness  among  sav- 
ages, i.  92,  u.  342 ;  on  infanticide,  i.  129, 
ii.  347;  on  the  primitive  barbarism  of 
civilized  nations,  i.  174;  on  traces  of  the 
custom  of  the  forcible  capture  of  wives, 
i.  175,  ii.  849 ;  on  polyandry,  Ii.  349, 

McXeill,  Mr.,  on  the  iise  of  the  antlers  of 
deer,  ii.  242;  on  the  Scotch  decrhound, 
ii.  249 ;  on  the  long  haii-s  ofrthe  throat  of 
the  stag,  ii.  256;  on  the  beUo\ving  of 
stags,  ii.  261. 

Macrorhinus  proboscideui,  structure  of 
the  nose  of,  ii.  265. 

Magpie,  power  of  speech  of,  i.  57 ;  stealing 
bright  objects,  ii.  107 ;  nuptial  assembUes 
of,  ii.  98 ;  new  mates  found  b.y,  ii.  99 ; 
yoimg  of  the,  ii.  200 ;  coloration  of  the, 
li.  220. 

Magpies,  vocal  organs  of  the,  ii.  52. 

Maillakd,  M.,  on  the  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in  a  species  of  Papitio  from 
Bourbon,  i.  301. 

Maine,  Mr.,  on  the  absorption  of  one  tribe 
by  another,  i.  154;  on  the  want  of  a  de- 
su-e  for  improvement,  i.  160. 

Makalolo.  perforation  of  the  upper  lip  by 
the,  ii.  325. 

Malar  bone,  abnormal  division  of,  in  man, 
i.  119. 

Malay  Archipelago,  marriage-customs  of 
the  savages  of  the,  ii.  357. 

Malays,  line  of  separation  between  the 
Papuans  and  the,  i.  210;  general  beard- 
Ifssness  of  the,  ii.  806:  staining  of  the 
teeth  among,  ii.  323;  aversion  of  some, 
to  hairs  on  the  face.  ii.  332. 

Malays  and  Papuans,  contrasted  charac- 
ters of,  i.  20S. 

Male  animals,  struggles  of,  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  females,  i.  251,  252;  eager- 
ness of,  in  courtship,  i.  263,  264;  gener- 
ally more  modified  than  female,  i.  264, 
266 ;  differ  in  the  same  way  from  females 
and  young,  i.  276. 

Male  "characters  developed  in  females,  i.  • 
271 ;  transfer  of,  to  female  birds,  ii.  185. 

Male,  sedentary,  of  a  hymenopterous 
parasite,  i.  263. 

Malefactop.s,  i.  16.5. 

Males,  presence  of  rudimentary  female 
organs  in,  1.  200. 

Males  and  females,  comparative  mortality 
of,  while  young,  i.  255,  267;  comparative 
numbers  of;  i.  253,  255. 

Maliierbe,  on  the  woodpeckers,  ii.  166. 

Malthus,  T.,  on  the  rate  of  increase  of 
population,  i.  126,  127, 129. 

Malueld^,  nidification  of  the,  ii.  161. 

Malurus,  yoimg  ot;  ii.  207. 

Mamm^  1.  246;  rudimentary,  in  male 
mammals,  i.  17,  80,  199-201;  supernu- 
merary, in  women,  1. 120 ;  of  male  hu- 
man subject,  i.  125. 


416 


INDEX. 


Mammalia,  Prof.  Owen's  classification  o^ 
i.  IsO;  pi'nfnJojry  of  the,  i.  I'.ir). 

Mammai.k.  secondary  sexual  cliaracters  of, 
ii.  '2'J>;  weapons  of,  ii.  BJO;  recent  and 
tertiary,  coiii|>arison  of  cranial  capacity 
of,  i.  140;  relative  size  of  the  sexes  of, 
ii.  248 ;  pursuit  of  female,  by  the  males, 
i.  208 ;  i)amlleli,siii  of.  with  birds  in  scc- 
ondary  se.xual  characters,  ii.  28;};  voices 
of,  u.sed  especially  during  the  breeding- 
season,  ii.  .SIC),  317. 

Man,  variability  of,  i.  1(14;  erroneously  re- 
garded as  more  domesticated  than  other 
animals,  i.  107;  definitive  orifrin  of,  i. 
22C;  migi-aiions  of.  i.  131 ;  wide  distribu- 
tion of,  i.  132;  causes  of  the  nakedness 
of,  i.  14;$ ;  8Ui)posed  phy.-^ical  inferiority 
of,  i.  150;  numcric.'d  proportions  of  the 
Bc.xes  in,  i.  255;  a  ineniher  of  tlie  Catar- 
rhine  group,  i.  190;  early  imiiriiiitors  of, 
i.  198;  secondary  sexual  characters  of; 
ii.  801 ;  primeval  condition  of,  ii.  851. 

Mandans,  correlation  of  color  and  texture 
of  hair  in  the,  i.  239. 

Mandible,  left,  enlarged  in  the  male  of 
Tuph  rode  res  dinlortun.  i.  3;M. 

Mandlblf.s,  use  of  the,  in  Ammopliila,  i. 
332;  large,  of  Corydalis  cornutus,  i. 
332;  large,  of  male  Lvcanus  elaphm,  i. 
882. 

Mandrill,  number  of  c.iudal  vertebrte  in 
the,  i.  144;  colors  of  the  male,  ii.  279, 
2S2,  295. 

Manteoazza,  Prof.,  on  the  ornaments  of 
savages,  ii.  322,  et  netjq. :  on  the  bcard- 
lessness  of  the  New-Zealanders,  ii.  332 ; 
on  the  exaggeration  of  natural  characters 
by  man,  ii.  885. 

Mantell,  W.,  on  the  engrossment  of  pret- 
ty girls  by  the  New-Zealand  chiefs,  ii. 
852. 

Mantis,  pugnacity  of  species  of,  i.  849. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  on  the  origin  of  the 
moral  sense,  i.  C8;  on  the  influence  of 
habitual  thoughts,  1.  9". 

Mareca  Penelope,  ii.  109. 

Marks,  ret^iiued  throughout  groups  of 
birds,  ii.  126. 

Marriage,  inlluence  of,  upon  morals,  i. 
92;  restraints  upon,  among  savages,  i. 
128;  influence  of,  on  mortality,  i.  169; 
development  of,  ii.  345. 

Marriages,  communal,  ii.  342,  844;  carlv, 
i.  108. 

Marshall,  Mr.,  on  the  brain  of  a  Bush- 
woman,  i.  208. 

Marsupials,  i.  194;  possession  of  nipples 
by,  i.  201 ;  their  origin  from  Monotreina- 
ta,  i.  204;  uterus  of.  i.  \\>:  (Uvelo|iment 
of  the  nietitiiting  membraiu'  in.  i.  23;  ab- 
dominal sacs  of.  i.  240;  relative  size  of 
the  sexes  of,  ii.  248 ;  colors  of,  ii.  272. 

Marsi  Tii'M,  rudimentiiry,  in  male  marsu- 
pials, i.  199. 

Martin,  W.  C.  L.,  on  alarm  manifested  by 
an  orang  at  the  sight  of  a  turtle,  i.  42 ; 
on  the  hair  in  Jlylohatei>,  I.  ISO;  on  a 
female  American  deer,  il.  246;  on  the 


voice  of  Ilylohates  affUin,  ii.  264;  on 

SemnopiVteciix  nemtvwt.  ii.  297. 
Martin,  on  the  beards  of  the  inhabitants 

of  St.  Kilda,  ii.  300. 
Martins  deserting  their  young,  1.  80. 
Martins,  C  on  death  caused  by  inflam- 
mation of  the  vermiform  appendage,  i. 

27. 
Mastoid  processes  in  man  and  apes,  i. 

188. 
^I.'.rDSLET,  Dr.,  on   the  influence  of  the 

sense  of  smell  in  man,  i.  23 ;  on  Laura 

liridgman.  i.  57 ;  on  the  development  of 

the  vocal  organs,  i.  57. 
Mayers.  W.  F.,  on  the  domestication  of 

the  goldfish  in  China,  ii.  10. 
Mavhew,   K.,  on    the    aft'ection    between 

individuals  of  different  sexes  in  the  dog, 

ii.  258. 
Maynard.  C.  J.,  on  the  sexes  of  Chryse- 

11) y»  picta,  ii.  27. 
Meckel,  on   con-elated   variation    of  the 

muscles  of  the  arm  and  leg.  i.  125. 
Mei)icine.s.  eftect  produced  by,  the  same 

in  man  and  in  monkeys,  i.  12. 
Meduxft.  bright  colors  of  some.  i.  318. 
Megalitiiic   structures,  prevalence  of;  i. 

224. 
Megulophryu  montana,  sexual  differences 

in,  ii.  25.  26. 
Mefjdpicun  rahdux,  sexual  difference  of 

color  in,  ii.  100. 
Megamma,  large  size  of  males  of  i.  837. 
Meics,  Dr.  .\.,  on  variation  in  the  skulls  of 

the  natives  of  America,  i.  104. 
Meinecke,  on  the  numerical  proportion  of 

the  sexes  in  butterflies,  i.  800. 
Melii'iiaoidj^  Australian,  nidification  oi; 

ii.  101. 
J/e/ita,  secondary  se.xu.al  characters  ot  i. 

322. 
J/e/oe.  difference  of  color  in  the  sexes  of  a 

species  of;  i.  850. 
Memory,  manifestations  of,  in  animals,  i. 

4S. 
Memnon,  young,  i.  209. 
Mental  characters,  difterence  of;  in  differ- 
ent races  of  men,  i.  208. 
Mental  faculties,  variation  of.  in  the  same 

species,  i.  85,  100;   divcriity  of,  in   the 

same  race  of  men.  i.  105;  inheritance  of. 

i.  106 ;  similaritv  of  the.  in  different  races 

of  man,  i.  223;  of  bird.s.  ii.  108. 
Mental  powers,  difl'erence  ot;  in  the  two 

sexes  in  man.  ii.  810. 
Mennra  Albert!,  ii.  98;  song  ot  ii.  53. 
Jfenura  superlxi,  ii.  97,  98;  long  tails  of 

both  sexes  of,  ii.  157. 
Mk.i'.(;anser,  trachea  of  the  male,  ii.  57. 
J/i  ri/uti  ciiciilhitiix,  speculum  of,  i.  281. 
Mergus  mergnnser.  young  of.  ii.  181. 
Merganser  serrator,  male- plum.ige  of,  ii. 

hi. 
Metallura.  splendid  tail-feathers  oC  ii.  146. 
Mit/ioca  ic/ineuinonides.  large  male  o^  i. 

837. 
Meves,  M.,  on  the  driniming  (  f  the  snipe, 

ii.  61. 


INDEX. 


417 


Mexicaus,  civilization  of  the,  not  foreign, 
i.  175. 

Meyer,  on  a  convoluted  body  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  tail  in  a  Macacus  and  a 
cat,  i.  29. 

Metee,  Dr.  A.,  on  the  copulation  of  phrj-- 
ganidffi  of  distinct  species,  i.  332. 

MiGKATiONS  of  man,  effects  of;  i.  130. 

Migratory  instinct  of  birds,  i.  76;  van- 
quishing the  maternal,  i.  SO,  87. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  on  the  origin  of  the  moral 
sense,  i.  68;  on  the  "greatest  happiness 
principle,"  i.  93 ;  on  the  difference  of  the 
mental  powers  in  the  sexes  of  man,  ii. 
312. 

Millipedes,  i.  330. 

Milne-Edwards,  H.,  on  the  use  of  the  en- 
larged chela  of  the  male  Gelaeimus,  i. 
322. 

Milrago  levcmnis,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii. 
197. 

Mimicry,  i.  397. 

Mimus poli/glottu.%  ii.  105. 

Mind,  difference  of,  in  man  and  the  highest 
animals,  i.  100 ;  similarity  of  the,  in  dif- 
ferent races,  i.  223. 

Minnow,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the,  i. 
299,  300. 

Minnows,  spa^^'ning  habits  of,  ii.  15. 

Mirror,  larks  attracted  by,  ii.  107. 

MivART,  St.  George,  on  the  reduction  of 
organs,  i.  18 ;  on  the  ears  of  the  Lemuroi- 
dea,  i.  23 ;  on  variability  of  the  muscles 
in  Lemuroidea,  i.  123,  131 ;  on  the  caudal 
vertebras  of  monkej's,  i.  114;  on  the 
classification  of  the  primates,  i.  150;  on 
the  orang  and  on  man,  i.  189;  on  differ- 
ences in  the  lemuroidea,  i.  190;  on  the 
crest  of  the  male  newt,  ii.  23. 

Mocking -TiiRURii,  partial  migration  o%  ii. 
105;  young  of  the,  ii.  209. 

Modifications,  unser-i-iceable,  i.  147. 

Moles,  numerical  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in,  i.  296 ;  battles  of  male,  ii.  228. 

MoUienesia  petenensis,  sexual  difference 
In,  ii.  9. 

MoLLTJSCA,  beautiful  colors  and  shapes  of, 
i.  316;  absence  of  secondary  sexual  char- 
acters in  the,  i.  315. 

MoLLuscoiDA,  i.  197,  315. 

Monacanthxts  scojyas,  and  31.  Peronii, 
sexual  differences  in,  ii.  12. 

Mongolians,  perfection  of  the  senses  in. 
i.  114. 

Monkey,  protecting  his  keeper  from  a  ba- 
boon, i.  75,  84 ;  bonnet-,  i.  184 ;  rhesus, 
sexual  difference  in  color  of  the,  ii.  278, 
296 ;  mustache-,  colors  of  the,  ii.  277. 

Monkeys,  liability  of,  to  the  same  diseases 
as  man,  i.  11 ;  male,  recognition  of  women 
by,  i.  13 ;  revenge  taken  by,  i.  39 ,  ma- 
ternal affection  in,  i.  39 ;  variability  of  the 
faculty  of  attention  in,  i.  43 ;  using  stones 
and  sticks,  i.  49 ;  imitative  faculties  of,  i. 
54;  signal-cries  oC  i.  56;  sentinels  posted 
by,  i.  71 ;  diversity  of  the  mental  facul- 
ties in,  i.  106;  mutual  kindnesses  of,  i. 
72 ;  hands  of  the,  i.  134 ;  breaking  hard 


fruits  with  stones,  i.  134;  basal  caudal 
vertebrre  of,  embedded  in  the  body,  i.  145 ; 
human  characters  of,  i.  184;  gradation 
of  species  of  i.  218;  beards  of;  ii.  269; 
ornamental  characters  of,  ii.  291 ;  analogy 
of  sexual  differences  of,  with  those  of 
man,  ii.  303 ;  different  degrees  of  differ- 
ence in  the  sexes  of,  ii.  307 ;  expression 
of  emotions  by,  ii.  320;  generally  mo- 
nogamous habits  of,  ii.  345;  polygamous 
habits  of  some,  ii.  345;  naked  surfaces  of, 
ii.  360;  American,  manifestation  of  reason 
in,  i.  47 ;  American,  direction  of  the  hair 
on  the  arms  of  some,  i.  185.  . 

M0NOGA.MY,  not  primitive,  i.  175. 

M0NOGENI8T8,  i.  220. 

Ilononydius  vseiidaoori,  stridulation  of, 
1.  371. 

MoNOTREMATA,  1. 194;  development  of  the 
nictitating  membrane  in,  i.  23;  lactifer- 
ous glands  of,  i.  200 ;  connecting  mam- 
mals with  reptiles,  i.  204. 

Monstrosities,  analogous,  in  man  and 
lower  animals,  i.  109;  caused  by  arrest  of 
development,  i.  116;  correlation  of;  i.  125; 
transmission  of,  i.  216. 

Montagu,  G.,  on  the  habits  of  the  black 
and  red  grouse,  i.  260 ;  on  the  pugnacity 
of  the  rufi;  ii.  39 ;  on  the  singing  of  birds, 
ii.  49 ;  on  the  double  moult  of  the  male 
pintail,  ii.  81. 

Monteieo,  Mi\,  on  Mueorax  Abi/ssiniem. 
ii.  69. 

Monies  de  Oca,  1*1.,  on  the  pugnacity  of 
male  Humming-birds,  ii.  38. 

3/onticola  cyanea,  ii.  164. 

Monuments,  as  traces  of  extinct  tribes,  i. 
228. 

Moose,  battles  of,  ii.  229 ;  horns  of  the,  an 
incumbrance,  ii.  248. 

Moral  and  instinctive  impulses,  alliance 
of,  i.  85. 

Moral  faculties,  their  influence  on  natural 
selection  in  man,  i.  152. 

Moral  rules,  distinction  between  the  high- 
er and  lower,  i.  90. 

Moral  sense,  origin  of  the,  i.  98 ;  so  called, 
derived  from  the  social  instincts,  i.  93,  94. 

Moral  tendencies,  inheritance  of,  i.  98. 

Morality,  supposed  to  be  founded  in  self- 
ishness, i.  93 ;  test  of  the  general  wel- 
fare of  the  community,  i.  94;  gradual  rise 
of  i.  99 ;  influence  of  a  high  standard  of, 
i.  159. 

Morgan,  L.  H.,  on  the  Beaver,  i.  36;  on 
the  reasoning  powers  of  the  Beaver,  i.  45 ; 
on  the  forcible  capture  of  wives,  i.  175; 
on  the  eastoreum  of  the  Beaver,  ii.  266 ; 
marriage  unknown  in  primeval  times,  ii. 
343 ;  on  Polyandry,  ii.  349. 

Morris,  F.  O.,  on  hawks  feeding  an  orphan 
nestling,  ii.  103. 

Mortality,  comparative,  of  females  and 
males,  i.  256,  267,  292. 

Morton,  on  the  number  of  species  of  man, 
i.  218. 

3fosc7nis  mosclti/erue,  odoriferous  organs 
of,  ii.  267. 


418 


INDEX. 


Jfotacillce,  Indian,  yomijr  of,  ii.  182. 

M0TII8,  i.  3s'2 ;  alisi-nco  of  mouth  in  aome 
male,  i.  246;  nptiTous  fi-iimlc,  i.  247;  male, 
preliensile  use  of  the  tarsi  l>y.  i.  248;  male, 
attracted  by  females,  i.  iiirZ;  coloration 
of,  i.  8b6;  sexual  diflerences  of  color  in, 
i.  8&5. 

MoTMOT,  racket-shaped  feathers  in  the  tail 
of  a,  ii.  70. 

Mori-T,  double,  ii.  173;  double  annual,  in 
birds,  ii.  77. 

Moulting  of  birds,  ii.  204. 

Moults,  piirtinl,  ii.  79. 

MuD-TUKTLE,  lonff  claws  of  the  male,  ii.  2fi. 

MuL.\TTOF_s,  persistent  fertility  ofi  i.  213; 
immunity  of.  fi-om  yellow  fever,  i.  2^54. 

MuLi;,  sterilit)-  and  sirouj,'  vitiility  of  the,  i. 
213. 

Mules,  rational,  i.  47. 

MuLLKU,  Ferd.,  on  the  Mexicans  and  Peru- 
\'ian9,  i.  176. 

MClleu,  Fritz,  on  astomntous  males  of 
7Wna/«,  i.  247;  on  the  disai)pearaneo  of 
spots  and  stripes  in  adult  mammals,  ii. 
2U0;  on  the  proportions  of  the  sexes  in 
some  Crustacea,  i.  307;  on  secondary 
se.Mial  characters  in  various  Crustaceans, 
i.  319,  et  seifi/. :  on  the  luminous  larva  of 
a  beetle,  i.  xiii;  musical  contest  between 
male  Cicadie.  i.  341 ;  on  the  se.xual  ma- 
turitj"  of  younjf  ampbipod  Crustacea,  ii. 
206. 

Miller.  .T.,  on  the  nictitating'  membrane 
and  Semilunar  fold,  i.  2;!. 

MiJLLEK,  Ma.x.  on  the  orisrin  of  lanfruage, 
i.  55;  stru^'«:le  for  life  among  the  words, 
etc..  of  laufTua^es.  i.  5S. 

MC'LLEB,  S..  on  the  IJantenp-.  ii.  276;  on  the 
colors  ot jSemnopit/iecu€  c/irt/ncmielas,  ii. 
277. 

MuNTJAC-DEER,  wcapous  of  the,  ii.  245. 

MuRiE,  J.,  on  the  reduction  of  organs,  i.  18 ; 
on  the  ears  of  the  J.emuroidea,  i.  23 ;  on 
variability  of  the  muscles  of  the  Lemuroi- 
dea,  i.  123, 131 ;  basal  caudal  vertebra;  of 
Macacim  inornalitK  embedded  in  the 
l)ody,  i.  145;  on  differences  in  the  Lemu- 
roidea.  i.  190;  on  the  throat-pouch  of  the 
mule  liustard,  ii.  55;  on  the  mane  of 
Ot<n  id  JiiOat'i.  ii.  255;  on  the  sub-orbital 
pits  of  Kiiminants.  ii.  267 ;  on  the  colors 
of  the  sexes  in  Otaria  nigreecens,  ii. 
274. 

Murray,  A.,  on  the  Pedioili  of  dilferent 
races  of  men,  i.  211. 

Murray,  T.  A.,  on  the  fertility  of  Austra- 
lian women  with  white  men.  i.  212. 

Mus  coninffa.  i.  49. 

Mu«  miniitiix,  sexual  difference  in  the  col- 
or of,  ii.  273. 

Muscn  romitoria,  i.  130. 

Mtwcicapit  grixola.  ii.  162. 

Munviciijia  liiftiioxa,  ii.  162. 

Muscicapn  riiticil/ii,  breedlnj;  in  imma- 
ture plumafre,  ii.  205. 

Muscle,  ischig-pubic,  i.  123. 

Muscles.  rudimentaiT,  occurrence  of,  in 
man,  i.  19;  variability  of  the,  i.  105;  ef- 


fects of  use  and  disuse  upon,  I.  112  ;  ani- 
mal-like abnormalities  of,  in  man.  i.  122 ; 
correlated  variation  oC  In  the  arm  and 
leg.  i.  rJ5;  variability  of  in  the  bands  and 
fiH't,  i.  131 ;  of  the  jaws,  intluence  oC  on 
the  jihysiognomy  of  the  Ajies.  i.  139 ;  ha- 
bitual spasms  of,  causing  modifications 
of  the  facial  bones,  i.  141 ;  of  the  early 
progenitor-s  of  man.  i.  19b;  greater  varia- 
bility of  the,  in  men  than  in  women,  i. 
266. 

MuscuLUS  8TEBNALIS,  Prof.  Turner  on  the, 
i.  19. 

Music,  1.  224;  of  birds,  ii.  4S;  discoi-dant, 
love  of  savages  for,  ii.  04 ;  dilhrent  ai)pre- 
ciation  of.  by  different  peoples,  ii.  31s; 
origin  of,  ii.  317.  321 ;  effects  oC  ii.  320. 

Musical  cadences.  percei)tion  of  by  ani- 
mals, ii.  317;  powers  of  man,  ii.  314,  et 

Musk-deer,  canine  teeth  of  m.ile,  ii.  2."1, 

245.  240;  male,  odoriferous  organs  of  the, 

ii.  267;  winter  change  of  the.  ii.  2s5. 
Musk-duck,  Australian,  ii.  36;  large  size 

of  male,  ii.  41 ;  of  Guiana,  pugnacity  of 

the  male.  ii.  41. 
Musk-ox,  horns  of,  ii.  230. 
Musk-rat.  i)rotective  resemblance  of  the, 

to  a  clod  of  eartlu  ii.  284. 
3Inxopha(i(r,  colors  and  nidification  of  the, 

ii.  163;  both  sexes  of,  cquallv  brilliant,  ii. 

169. 
Mussels  opened  by  monkeys,  i.  134. 
Mustacue-moskev,  colors"  of  the,  ii.  277, 

296. 
Mustaches,  in  monkeys,  i.  1S4. 
J/uite/a,  winter  change  of  two  species  ot, 

ii.  2S4. 
Mutilations,  healing  of,  i.  13. 
MiitiUa  Kiiropnti.  stiidulation  of^  i.  35.5. 
Mutillldj;,  absence  of  ocelli  in  female,  i. 

Jli/cetes  cara'ja.  polygamous,  i.  258;  vo- 
cal organs  ot  ii.  2(54;  bcird  o^  ii.  269; 
sexual  differences  of  color  in,  ii.  276  ; 
voice  of,  ii.  316. 

Mycetes  seniculits,  sexual  difTerences  of 
color  in,  ii.  276. 

Myriapoda,  i.  830. 


N. 

Nagell  on  the  influence  of  natural  selec- 
tion on  pbnt.s.  i.  1,46;  on  the  gi-adalion 
of  species  of  plants,  i.  219. 

Nails,  colored  yellow  or  purple  in  part  of 
.\frica,  ii.  322." 

NAIM.F.S,  greater  proportion  of  female  ille- 
gitimate childi-en  in,  i.  292. 

Narwilai.,  tusks  of  tlie.  ii.  231,  287. 

Nasal  cavities,  large  size  o^  in  Ajnericau 
alwrigines,  i.  114. 

Nascent  organs,  i.  18. 

Natiiushts,  H.  von,  on  the  improved  breeds 
of  pigs,  i.  222 ;  on  the  breeding  of  domes- 
tic animals,  ii.  3.W. 

Natural  selection,  its  effects  on  the  early 


INDEX. 


419 


progenitors  of  man.  i.  131 ;  influence  of; 
on  man,  i.  145,  14S;  limitation  of  the 
principle,  i.  14G;  influence  of,  on  social 
animals,  i.  149 ;  Mv.  Wallace  on  the  limi- 
tation of,  by  the  influence  of  the  mental 
faculties  in  man,  i.  1J)2 ;  influence  of.  in 
the  progress  of  the  United  States,  i.  172. 

Natural  and  sexual  selection  contrasted, 
i.  269. 

Naulette,  jaw  from,  largo  size  of  the  ca- 
nines in,  1.  122. 

Nbandeethal  skull,  capacity  of  the,  i. 
140. 

Neck,  proportion  of,  in  soldiers  and  sailors, 
i.  112. 

Necrophoru,%  stridulation  of,  i.  367,  371. 

Nectarinia,  young  of,  ii.  1S2. 

Nectarinia,  nidiflcation  of,  ii.  101 ;  moult- 
ing of  the,  ii.  79. 

Negro,  resemblance  of  a,  to  Europeans,  in 
mental  characters,  i.  273. 

Negeo-women,  their  kindness  to  Mungo 
Park,  i.  91. 

Negroes,  character  of,  i.  208 ;  lice  of,  i.  212 ; 
blackness  of,  i.  216,  ii.  365;  variabiUty  of, 
1.  217,  218;  immunity  of,  from  yellow  fe- 
ver, i.  234;  difference  of,  from  Americans, 
i.  238 ;  disfigurements  of  the,  ii.  282 ;  col- 
or of  new-born  children  of,  ii.  302 ;  com- 
parative beardlessness  of,  ii.  306;  readily 
become  musicians,  ii.  318;  appreciation 
of  beauty  of  their  women  by,  ii.  328,  330 ; 
idea  of  beauty  among,  ii.  334;  compres- 
sion of  the  noss  by  some,  ii.  335. 

Neolithic  period,  i.  176. 

Neomorpha,  sexual  ditferenco  of  the  beak 
in,  ii.  37. 

Nephila,  i.  323. 

Nests,  made  by  fishes,  ii.  19;  decoration 
of,  by  Humming-birds,  ii.  107. 

Neumeistee,  on  a  change  of  color  in  pig- 
eons after  several  moultings,  i.  234. 

NE0RATION,  difference  of  in  the  two  sexes 
of  some  butterflies  and  hymcnopter.a,  i. 
837. 

Neueopteea,  1.  306,  350. 

Keurothemis^  dimorphism  in,  i.  352. 

New  Zealand,  expectation  by  the  natives 
of,  of  their  extinction,  i.  232 ;  practice  of 
tattooing  in,  ii.  326;  aversion  of  native* 
of,  to  hairs  on  the  face,  ii.  332;  pretty 
girls  engrossed  by  the  chiefs  in,  ii.  352. 

Newton,  A.,  on  the  throat-pouch  of  the 
male  bustard,  ii.  55 ;  on  the  difference  be- 
tween the  females  of  two  species  of  Oxy- 
noius,  ii.  184;  on  the  habits  of  the  phala- 
rope,  dotterel,  and  godwit,  ii.  195. 

Newts,  ii.  23. 

Nicholson,  Dr.,  on  the  non-immunity  of 
dark  Europeans  from  yellow  fever,  i.  236. 

Nictitating  membrane,  i.  23,  198. 

NiDiFicATioN,  of  fishes,  ii.  IS ;  relation  of, 
to  color,  ii.  159,  165 ;  of  British  birds,  ii. 
162. 

Night-heron,  cries  of  the,  ii.  48. 

Nightingale,  arrival  of  the  male  before 
the  female,  i.  251 ;  object  of  the  song  of 
the,  ii.  49. 


Nightlngales,  new  mates  found  by,  ii. 
101. 

Night-jar.  selection  of  a  mate  by  the  fo- 
m.Tle,  ii.  Ill ;  Australian,  sexes  of,  ii.  197 ; 
coloration  of  the,  ii.  216. 

NiGiiT-jAES,  noise  made  by  some  male, 
with  their  wings,  ii.  59 ;  elongated  feath- 
ers in,ii.  69,  92. 

Nilghau,  sexual  diff'erences  of  color  in  the, 
ii.  273. 

NiLssoN,  Prof.,  on  the  resemblance  of  stone 
arrow-heads  from  various  places,  i.  224 ; 
on  the  development  of  the  horns  in  the 
reindeer,  i.  279. 

Nipples,  absence  of,  in  Monotremata,  i.  200. 

NiTZSCii,  0.  L.,  on  the  down  of  birds,  ii.  77. 

NOCT0.E,  brightly  colored  beneath,  i.  885. 

NocTuiD.E,  coloration  of,  i.  382. 

NoRDMAUN,  A.,  on  Tetrao  -urogalloides,  ii. 
96. 

Nomadic  habits,  imfavorable  to  human 
progress,  i.  160. 

Norway,  numerical  proportion  of  male  and 
female  births  in,  i.  291. 

•Nose,  resemblance  of,  in  man  and  the  apes, 
i.  184 ;  piercing  and  ornamentation  of  the, 
ii.  325 ;  flattening  of  the,  Ii.  335 ;  very  flat, 
not  admired  in  negroes,  ii.  333. 

NoTT  and  GUddon,  on  the  features  of  Ea- 
meses  II.,  i.  209;  on  the  features  of 
Amunoph  III.,  i.  210;  on  skulls  from 
Brazilian  caves,  i.  210 ;  on  the  immunity 
of  negroes  and  mulattoes  from  yellow  fe- 
ver, i.  234;  on  the  deformation  of  the 
skull  among  American  tribes,  ii.  336. 

NuDiBRANcu  mollusca,  bright  colors  of;  i. 
317. 

Numerals,  Roman,  i.  175. 

Nunemaya,  natives  of,  bearded,  ii.  307,  332 

O. 

Obedience,  value  of;  i.  166. 

Observation,  powers  of,  possessed  by 
birds,  ii.  105. 

Occupations,  sometimes  a  cause  of  dimin- 
ished stature,  i.  Ill ;  effect  of,  upon  the 
proportions  of  the  body,  i.  112. 

Ocelli,  absence  of,  in  female  MutiUidse,  i. 
331. 

Ocelli  of  birds,  formation  and  variability 
of  the,  ii.  126. 

Ocelot,  sexual  differences  in  the  coloring 
of  the,  ii.  278. 

Ocijphaps  lophotes,  ii.  92. 

Odonata,  i.  306. 

Odonestis  potatoria,  sexual  difference  of 
color  in,  i.  386. 

Odor,  coiTclation  of;  \vith  color  of  skin,  i. 
239 ;  emitted  by  snakes  in  the  breeding- 
season,  ii.  23 ;  of  mammals,  ii.  265. 

(Eeantlms  nivalis,  difference  of  color  in 
the  sexes  of,  i.  351. 

Oidemia,  ii.  216,  217. 

Olivier,  on  sounds  produced  by  Pimelia 
striata,  i.  373. 

Omaloplia  brunnea,  stridulation  of,  i. 
869. 


420 


INDEX. 


Onitis  fureifer,  procosses  of  anterior  fem- 
ora of  tlie  male,  and  on  the  bead  and 
thorax  of  the  female,  i.  361. 

Onthojihtigim.  i.  860. 

Oiit/iiip/i(i(/ii.n  ninffi/er,  sexual  dilTerence.s 
of,  i.  85S ;  variation  in  the  horns  of  the 
male,  i.  860. 

OniiDiA,  sexual  differences  ot  ii.  27. 

Opossum,  wide  range  of;  in  America,  i. 
211. 

Optio  nerve,  atrophy  of  the,  caused  by  de- 
struction of  the  eye.  i.  112. 

OK.VNG-OfTAN,  ii.  308:  IJisclioff  on  the 
agreement  of  the  brain  of  the,  with  that 
of  man,  i.  11;  adult  age  of  the,  i.  13; 
oars  of  the,  i.  21 ;  vermiform  appcndatre 
of,  i.  26;  platfoniis  built  by  the,  i.  35; 
alarmed  at  tile  sijrht  of  a  turtle,  i.  41 ; 
using  a  stick  as  a  lever,  i.  49  ;  using  mis- 
siles, i.  50 ;  using  the  leaves  of  the  Pan- 
danus  as  a  night  covering,  i.  51 ;  hands 
of  the,  1.  134;  absence  of  mastoid  pro- 
cesses in  the,  i.  135;  direction  of  the 
hair  on  the  arms  of  the,  i.  1^5;  its  aber- 
rant characters,  i.  ISS ;  supposed  evolu- 
tion of  the,  i.  222 ;  voice  of  the.  ii.  265 ; 
monogamous  habits  of  the,  Ii.  345 ;  male, 
beard  of  the,  ii.  2T0. 

ftR ant.es,  treatment  of  by  monkeys,  i.l34. 

Orax<;i;-tip  butterfly,  i.  3T6,  3Sl. 

Orclientia  Darwinii,  dimorphism  of  males 
of,  i.  322. 

Orche«tia  Tuciiratinga,  limbs  of;  i.  320, 
32T. 

Obdeai,  i.  66. 

OreuH  canna,  colors  of.  ii.  274. 

Oreas  Perbianus,  colors  of,  ii.  274,  2S6. 

Organs,  prehensile,  i.  24S;  utilized  for 
new  jmrposos.  ii.  319. 

Orgaxio  scale.  Von  IJaer's  definition  of 
jirogress  in,  i.  2(W. 

Orioi.ks.  nidilication  of,  ii.  160. 

OrioliiM,  siiecies  of,  breeding  in  immature 
plumage,  ii.  •i^\h,  200. 

Orio/iiJi  jiie/ii/iocephaliis,  coloration  of  tlie 
sexes  in,  ii.  170. 

Ornaments,  prevalence  of  similar,  i.  224 ; 
fondness  ot  savages  for,  ii.  324 ;  of  male 
birds,  ii.  47. 

Ornamental  characters,  equal  transmis- 
sion of,  to  both  sexe.s,  in  mammals,  ii. 
2S;i;  of  monkeys,  ii.  291. 

Ornitlwptera  <'ra'«us,  i.  301. 

Ornithorhynchw),  i.  192;  spur  of  the 
male,  ii.  231 ;  reptilian  tendency  of,  i.  196. 

Orocete«  eri/throga^tra,  young  oi;  ii.  210. 

Orront,  Grotto  of  i.  28. 

Orsodacna  atra,  dilference  of  color  in  the 
sexes  of;  i.  367. 

Ortuoptera,  i.  !341 ;  metamorpho.sis  of,  i. 
2S2 ;  stridulating,  auditory  ajiparatus  of, 
1.  8+B;  colors  of,  i.  349;  rudimentary 
stridulating  organs  in  female,  i.  349; 
stridulation  of  the,  and  Homoptei-a,  dis- 
eu.ssod,  i.  349. 

OrtyyorniH  ffiilarU,  pugnacitv  of  the 
male,  ii.  42. 

Ortjctes,  stridulation  of,  i.  869 ;  sexual  dif- 


ferences in  the  stridulant  organs  ot  i. 
871. 

Orifr  leucori/x,  use  of  the  horns  of,  ii.  289. 
251. 

Osphranter  rii/us,  sexual  difTerence  in  the 
color  of,  ii.  272. 

Ostrich,  African,  sexes  and  incubation  of 
the,  ii.  196. 

Ostriches,  stripes  of  young,  ii.  176. 

Otdria  jnhatu.  mane" of  the  male,  ii.  255. 

Otdria  iiiyreMct'ii-n.  difference  in  the  colora- 
tion of  the  sexes  ot;  ii.  273. 

OtiM  Bengaleim*,  love-antics  of  the  male, 
ii.  6.J. 

Otis  tarda,  polygamous,  i.  261 ;  throat- 
pouch  of  the  male.  ii.  55. 

OuzEi.  ring,  colors  and  nidificatlon  of  the, 
ii.  171. 

Ouzel,  water,  colors  and  nidiflcation  of 
the,  ii.  162. 

Ovibos  moschatitfi,  horns  of,  ii.  236. 

Ovipositor  of  insect.s.  i.  246. 

OviH  cycloceros,  mode  of  fighting  of,  ii. 

OvrLE  of  man.  i.  14. 

Owen,  Prof.,  on  the  Corpora  Wolfflana,  i. 
16;  on  the  great-toe  in  man,  i.  16:  on 
the  nictitating  membrane  and  semilunar 
fold,  i.  23;  on  the  development  of  the 
posterior  molars  in  different  races  of 
man,  1.  26;  on  the  length  of  the  cjecum 
in  the  Koala,  i.  26 ;  on  the  coccygeal  ver- 
tebrae, i.  29;  on  rudimentary  structures 
belonging  to  the  reproductive  system,  i. 
80;  on  abnormal  conditions  of  the  hu- 
man uterus,  i.  119:  on  the  number  of 
digits  in  the  Ichthyopterygia.  i.  120;  on 
the  canine  teith  in  man."  i.  121 ;  on  the 
walking  of  the  chimpanzee  and  orang.  i. 
134;  on  the  mastoid  processes  in  the 
higher  apes,  i.  13S;  on  the  hairiness  of 
elephants  in  elevated  districts,  i.  143;  on 
the  caudal  vertebrse  of  monkeys,  i.  144; 
classification  of  mammaha,  i.  IsO;  on 
the  hair  in  monkeys,  i.  ISO;  on  the  pis- 
cine affinities  of  the  Ichthyosaurians,  i, 
196 ;  on  polygamy  and  monogamy  among 
the  antelopes,  i.  25S:  on  the  horns  of 
Antilocdpra  Americana,  i.  230 ;  on  the 
musky  odor  of  crocodiles  during  the 
breeding-season,  ii.  27;  on  the  secnt- 
glands  of  snakes,  ii.  29 ;  on  the  Dugong, 
Cachalot,  and  OrnitAor/ii/ncAiis,  ii.  23i ; 
on  tke  antlers  of  the  red-deer.  ii.  241 ;  on 
the  dentition  of  the  Camelida',  ii.  246; 
on  the  tusks  of  the  Mammoth,  ii.  247; 
on  the  horns  of  the  Irish  elk,  ii.  247 :  on 
the  voice  in  the  giraffe,  porcupine,  and 
stag.  ii.  261 ;  on  the  laryngeal  sac  of  the 
gorilla  and  orang,  ii.  2(W ;  on  the  oiiorifer- 
ous  glonds  of  mammals,  ii.  2t)6.  267  :  on 
the  effects  of  emasculation  on  the  vocal 
organs  of  men.  ii.  314;  on  the  voice  of 
Jlylobatix  ay  it  is,  ii.  316;  on  Aiiicrican 
monogamous  monkeys,  ii.  845. 

Owls,  white,  new  mates  found  by,  ii.  100. 

Oje)/notit«.  difference  of  the  females  of  two 
species  of;  ii.  1S4. 


INDEX. 


421 


p. 

Pachtdermata,  i.  259. 

Paget,  on  the  abnormal  development  of 
hairs  in  man,  i.  24 ;  on  the  thickness  of 
the  skin  on  the  soles  of  the  feet  of  in- 
fants, i.  113. 

Painting,  i.  224. 

Pa!(xmo7i,  chelae  of  a  species  o£  i.  321. 

Palceornis,  sexual  differences  of  color  in, 
ii.  221. 

Palceornis  Javanioiis,  color  of  beak  of,  ii. 
171. 

Puloeornis  rosa,  young  of,  ii.  ISO. 

Palamedea  cornuta,  spurs  on  the  wings 
of,  ii.  44. 

Paieolithic  period,  i.  176. 

Palestine,  habits  of  the  chaffinch  in,  i. 
298. 

Pallas,  on  the  perfection  of  the  senses  in 
the  Mongolians,  i.  114;  on  the  want  of 
connection  between  climate  and  the  color 
of  the  skin,  1.  232 ;  on  the  polygamous 
habits  of  A?itilope  saiga,  i.  258;  on  the 
lighter  color  of  horses  and  cattle  in  win- 
ter in  Siberia,  i.  273 ;  on  the  tusks  of  the 
musk-deer,  ii.  245,  24<y;  on  the  odorifer- 
ous glands  of  mammals,  ii.  266 ;  on  the 
odoriferous  glands  of  the  musk-deer,  ii. 
267 ;  on  winter  changes  of  color  in  mam- 
mals, ii.  284 ;  on  the  ideal  of  female  beau- 
ty in  North  China,  ii.  823. 

Pabnaris  awessorius  nmscle,  variations 
of  the,  i.  105. 

Pampas,  horses  of  the,  i.  227. 

Pangenesis,  hypothesis  of,  i.  271,  275. 

Panniculus  carnosus,  i.  19. 

Papilio,  sexual  differences  of  coloring  in 
species  of,  i.  377;  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in  North  American  species  of,  i.  301 ; 
coloration  of  the  wings  in  species  of,  i. 
383. 

Papilio  aitcaniu.%  i.  377. 

Papilio  Sesoxfris  and  Children's,  varia- 
biUtv  of.  i.  389. 

Papilio  Turniis,  i.  301. 

Papilionidje,  variability  in  the,  i.  389. 

Papuans,  line  of  separation  between  the, 
and  the  Malavs,  i.  210 ;  beards  of  the,  ii. 
307 ;  hair  of,  ii.  324. 

Papuans  and  Malays,  contrast  in  char- 
acters of,  i.  208. 

Paradise,  Bu-ds  of,  ii.  96,  173;  supposed 
by  Lesson  to  be  polygamous,  i.  260 ;  rat- 
tling of  their  quills  by,  ii.  58;  racket- 
shaped  feathers  in,  ii.  70 ;  sexual  differ- 
ences in  color  of,  ii.  71 :  decomposed  feath- 
ers in,  ii.  70,  93 ;  display  of  plumage  by 
the  male,  ii.  85. 

Paradisea  apoda,  barbless  feathers  in  the 
tail  ot,  ii.  70;  plumage  of,  ii.  72;  and  P. 
Papxiaiia,  divergence  of  the  females  of, 
ii.  184. 

Paradisea  rubra,  ii.  71,  72. 

Paraguay,  Indians  ot,  eradication  of  ej-e- 
brows  and  eyelashes  by,  ii.  332. 

Parakeet,  Australian,  variation  in  the  col- 
or of  the  thighs  of  a  male,  ii.  121. 


Parallelism  of  development  of  species 
and  languages,  i.  57. 

Parasites  on  man  and  anim.als,  i.  12;  as 
e\ddence  of  specific  identity  or  distinct- 
ness, i.  211 ;  immunity  from,  correlated 
with  color,  i.  233. 

Parental  affection,  partly  a  result  of  natu- 
ral selection,  i.  77. 

Parents,  age  of,  influence  upon  sex  of  off- 
spring, i.  293. 

Parin.e,  sexual  difference  of  color  in,  ii.  166. 

Park,  Mungo,  negro  women  teaching  their 
children  to  love  the  truth,  i.  91 ;  his  treat- 
ment hy  the  negro  women,  i.  91,  ii.  311 ; 
on  negro  opinions  of  the  appearance  of 
white  men,  ii.  330. 

Parrot,  racket-shaped  feathers  in  the  tail 
of  a.  ii.  70;  instance  of  benevolence  in  a, 
ii.  105. 

Parrots,  imitative  faculties  of,  i.  43 ;  change 
of  color  in.  i.  146 ;  living  in  triplets,  ii.  102 ; 
affection  of  ii.  104 ;  colors  of,  ii.  213  ;  se.x- 
ual  differences  of  color  in,  ii.  221 ;  colors 
and  nidiflcation  of  the.  ii.  163,  166,  168; 
immature  plumage  of  the,  ii.  180 ;  musi- 
cal powers  of,  ii.  319. 

Parthenogenesis  in  the  Tenthredin^,  i. 
305 ;  in  Cynipidae,  i.  305 ;  in  Crustacea,  i. 
306. 

Partridge,  monogamous,  i.  261 ;  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes  in  the,  i.  297 ;  female,  ii. 
186. 

'•  Partridge-dances.''  ii.  65. 

Partridges.  Uving  in  triplets,  ii.  102 ;  spring 
coveys  of  male,  ii.  103;  distinguishing 
persons,  ii.  106. 

Pat^us  coeruleu.%  ii.  166. 

Passer,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii.  203. 

Passer  braehydactylus,  ii.  203. 

Passer  domeslicus.  ii.  162,  203. 

Passer  montanus.  ii.  162,  203. 

Patagonians,  self-sacrifice  by,  i.  84. 

Patterson,  Mr.,  on  the  Afirionid<E,  1.351. 

P.AULIBTA8  of  Brazil,  i.  216. 

Paro  cristatits,  i.  281,  ii.  130. 

Pa  10  miiticus,  i.  290,  ii.  130;  possession  of 
spurs  by  the  female,  ii.  44,  155. 

Paro  nigripenni-s,  ii.  115. 

Pataguas  Indians,  thin  legs  and  thick  arms 
of  the,  1.112. 

Patan,  Mr.,  on  the  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in  sheep,  i.  295. 

PE.4.C0CK,  polygamous,  i.  261 ;  sexual  char- 
acters of  i.  281 ;  pugnacity  of  the,  ii.  44 ; 
rattUng  of  the  quiUs  by,  ii.  58 ;  elongated 
tail-coverts  of  the,  ii.  69,  93 ;  love  of  dis- 
play of  the,  ii.  130,  65,  S3 ;  oeellated  spots 
of  the,  ii.  130 ;  inconvenience  of  long  tail 
of  the,  to  the  female,  ii.  147,  157.  158; 
continued  increase  of  beauty  of  the,  il. 
206. 

Peacock-eutterflt,  i.  380. 

Peafowl,  preference  of  females  for  a  partic- 
ular male,  ii.  116 ;  first  advances  made  by 
the  female,  ii.  116. 

Pediculi  of  domestic  animals  and  man,  i. 
211. 

Pedigree  of  man,  1.  205. 


422 


INDEX. 


Peilionomns  torquntaK,  sexes  of,  ii.  192. 
I'kewit,  wlng-tubcrcles    of  the  male,  11. 

44. 
Pf,i..\gic  animals,  transparency  o£  1.  314. 
/'e/ecaniix  eryihrorlujnrlnut,  horny  crest 

on  the  beak  of  the  male,  during  the  breed- 

Infr-season,  ii.  "(>. 
Pel  era  nun  oiiocrotdlitu,  spring  plumage  o^ 

ii.  81. 
Pelelk,  ii.  .S'25. 
I'euc.vs,  blind,  fed  by  his  companions.  1. 

74;  youni,',  guided  by  olil  birds,  1.  74; 

j)ugnacity  of  the  male'  ii.  41. 
Pelicans,  fishing  in  concert,  1.  72. 
J't/ohiiis I/ermdnni,  slridulatlon, of,  1. 86S, 

;{70. 
Pelvis,  alteration  of,  to  suit  the  erect  atti- 
tude of  man,  1.  137 ;  difiereuces  of  the,  in 

the  sexes  in  man,  ii.  3(12. 
Penelope  nigra,  sound  jiroduced  by  the 

male,  ii.  61. 
Pesn  AST.  on  the  battles  of  seals,  ii.  229 ;  on 

the  bladder-nose  seal,  ji.  205. 
Pentlit^  anteunal  cushions  of  the  male,  1. 

a«. 

Perch,  brightness  of  male,  during  breeding- 
season,  ii.  13. 

Peregrine  Falcon,  new  mate  found  by,  ii. 
100. 

Period  of  variability,  relation  of,  to  sexual 
selection,  i.  2S7. 

Periodicitt,  vital.  Dr.  Laycock  on,  i.  12. 

Periods,  lunar,  followed  by  functions  in 
man  and  animals,  i.  12,  204. 

Periods  of  life,  inheritance  at  correspond- 
ing, i.  271,  276. 

Perisoreua  Canadensis,  young  of,  ii. 
200. 

Peritrirhia.  difference  of  color  in  the  se.xes 
of  a  species  of,  1.  356. 

pERlWINKl.E,  i.  815. 

Pernin  cristata,  ii.  121. 

Perseverance,  a  characteristic  of  man,  ii. 
312. 

Persians,  said  to  be  improved  by  intermix- 
ture with  Georgians  and  Circassians,  ii. 
341. 

Personnat,  M.,  on  Bombijx  Yamamai,  i. 
301. 

Peruvians,  civilization  of  the,  not  foreign, 
i.  176. 

Petrels,  colors  of,  ii.  220. 

Petrocincla  cijnnea,  young  of,  ii.  210. 

yv^ronJrt,  ii.  20;3. 

Pfeiffer,  Ida,  on  Javanese  ideas  of  beauty, 
ii.  331. 

P/iiieochtvrus  .^Jiiopiciis,  tusks  and  pads 
ot,  ii.  253. 

PiiALANOER,  Vulpine,  black  varieties  of  the, 
ii.  2MI. 

J'hnliiroprui  fidicarins,  ii.  194. 

/'/u//,iropu8'/ii/per(joreus,  ii.  194. 

P/nnntiiK,  1.  361. 

PhiDuviin  carnifer,  variation  of  the  horns 
of  the  male,  i.  369. 

Pliiin4Xii«  fauniig,  sexual  difteronoes  of.  i. 

Phanceiu  lanei/er,  I.  359. 


Phangrmiirn  riridi«8ima,  stridulatton  ot, 
i.  344.  345. 

P/tattiuiiim  Svinmerringii,  ii.  150. 

PlKminiins  remicolor,  ii.  85. 

P/ianiaiiiiM  Wollichii.  ii.  89,  1S7. 

PiiASMiD.f,  mimicry  of  leaves  by  the,  1.401. 

Pheasant,  polygamous,  i.  261 ;  "production 
of  hybrid.'*  with  the  common  fbwl,  ii.  117 ; 
and  black  groiL^e,  hybrids  of.  ii.  109;  im- 
mature plumage  of  the,  ii.  1^0. 

Pheasant,  Argu.s,  ii.  69,  173;  display  of 
plumage  by  the  male,  ii.  &S;  ocellatcd 
spots  of  the,  ii.  128,  135;  gradation  of 
characters  in  the,  ii.  135. 

Pheasant,  Blood-,  ii.  42. 

Pheasant,  t'hecr,  ii.  89.  1S7. 

Pheasant,  Eared,  i.  290;  ii.  89. 1S7;  eexcs 
alike  in  the,  ii.  170;  length  of  the  tail  in 
the.  ii.  15S. 

Pheasant,  Golden,  display  of  plumage  by 
the  male.  ii.  S5;  sc.x  of  j-oung.  ascer- 
tained by  pulling  out  head-feathers,  ii. 
205;  age  of  mature  plumage  in  the,  ii. 
204. 

Pheasant,  Kalij,  drumming  of  the  male, 
ii.  59. 

Pheasant,  Reeves,  length  of  the  tail  in,  ii. 
15S. 

Pheasant.  Silver,  se.xual  coloration  of  the, 
ii.  218;  triunifihant  male,  deposed  on  ac- 
count of  si)oikd  plumage,  ii.  115. 

Pheasant,  b^iemmerring's,  ii.  149. 15S. 

Pheasant,  Tragopan,  ii.  6S:  display  of 
plumage  by  the  male,  ii.  87;  markings 
of  the  sexes  of  the.  ii.  12S. 

Pheasants,  period  of  acquisition  of  male 
characters  in  the  family  of  the,  i.  2S0; 
proportion  of  sexes  in  chicks  o£  i.  297 ; 
length  of  the  fciil  in,  ii.  149,  157, 153. 

Philodromus.  i.  82S. 

Philters,  worn  by  wjmen,  ii.  328. 

Phoca  (irvenlandicu,  se.xual  diflfercncc  in 
the  coloration  of.  ii.  273. 

P/itxiiiciira  rtitici/la.  ii.  101. 

PnosrHOREScESCE  of  insects,  i.  S4!). 

Phryganid-e,  copulation  of  distinct  spe- 
cies of,  i.  332. 

Phr>/ni«cu«  nigricans,  ii.  24. 

Physical  inferiority,  supposed,  of  man,  i. 
149. 

Pickering,  on  the  nmnber  of  species  of 
man,  i.  218, 

PiCTON,  J.  A.,  on  the  soul  of  man,  ii.  878. 

Picus  aurntu.i.  ii.  41. 

PiERiDJi,  mimicry  bv  female,  i.  399. 

Pieri^,  i.  380. 

Pigeon,  carrier,  late  development  of  the 
wattle  in,  i.  284;  domestic,  breeds  and 
subbreeds  of,  ii.  170;  pouter,  late  de- 
velopment of  the  crop  in,  i.  2S4 ;  female, 
deserting  a  weakened  mate.,  i.  254. 

Pigeons,  nestlinir.  fed  by  the  secretion  of 
the  crop  of  both  parents,  i.  202:  ch.ingea 
of  plunLige  in.  i.  272;  transmission  of 
sexual  peculiarities  in.  i.  274;  changing 
color  after  several  moultings.  i.  2>4 ;  nu- 
merical proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  1.296; 
cooing  ot;  ii.  6S;  variations  in  plumage 


INDEX. 


423 


o£  ii.  71 ;  display  of  plumage  by  male,  li. 
92;  local  memory  of,  ii.  105;  antipathy 
of  female,  to  certain  males,  ii.  114;  pair- 
ing of,  ii.  lib;  profligate  male  and. 
female,  ii.  114;  wng-bars  and  tail-feath- 
ers of,  ii.  125 ;  supposititious  breed  of,  ii. 
148;  pouter  and  carrier,  peculiarities  of 
predominant  in  males,  ii.  150;  nidifica- 
tion  of,  ii.  160;  immature  plumage  of  the, 
ii.  ISO;  Australian,  ii.  167;  Belgian,  wth 
black-streaked  males,  1.  2S5,  293;  li.  150. 

Pigs,  origin  of  the  improved  breeds  of,  1. 
222 ;  numerical  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in,  i.  295;  stripes  of  young,  ii.  176,  288; 
sexual  preference  shown  by,  ii.  260. 

Pike,  American,  brilliant  colors  of  the 
male,  during  the  breeding-season,  ii.  14. 

Peke,  male,  devoured  by  females,  i.  299. 

Pike,  L.  O.,  on  the  psychical  elements  of 
religion,  i.  66. 

Pimetia  striata,  sounds  produced  by  tho 
female,  i.  373. 

Pintail  Drake,  plumage  of,  ii.  81 ;  pairing 
\rith  a  wild-duck,  ii.  110. 

Pintail  Duck,  paii-ing  with  a  Widgeon,  ii. 
109. 

Pipe-fish,  filamentous,  ii.  IS;  marsupial 
receptacles  of  the  male,  ii.  20. 

Pipits,  moulting  of  the.  ii.  79. 

Pijrra,  modified  secondary  wing-feathers 
of  male,  ii.  62. 

Pipra  deliciosa,  ii.  62,  63. 

Pirates  stridulus,  stridulation  of,  i.  340. 

Pithecia  leucoeephala,  sexual  difl'erences 
of  color  in,  ii.  277. 

Pithecia  Sata7tas,  beard  of.  ii.  269,  272 ; 
resemblance  of;  to  a  negro,  ii.  365. 

Pits,  suborbital,  of  Euminants,  ii.  267. 

PiTTiD^,  nidiflcation  of,  ii.  160. 

Placentata,  i.  194. 

Plagiostomous  fishes,  ii.  1. 

Plain-wanderer,  Australian,  11. 192. 

Planarim,  bright  colors  of  some,  i.  313. 

Plantain-eaters,  colors  and  nidiflcation 
of  the,  ii.  16;?;  both  sexes  of,  equally 
brilliant,  ii.  169. 

Plants,  cultivated,  more  fertile  than  wild, 
i.  127;  Nageli,  on  natural  selection  in,  i. 
146 ;  male  flowers  of,  mature  before  tho 
female,  i.  252 ;  phenomena  of  fertilization 
in,  i.  265 ;  relation  between  number  and 
size  of  seeds  in,  i.  309. 

Platalea,  ii.  57 ;  change  of  plumage  in,  ii. 
171. 

PlatyMemnus,  i.  850. 

PlatycercxM,  young  of;  ii.  200. 

Platyphylhim  concamim,  i.  342,  345. 

Platyrrhine  monkeys,  i.  188. 

Platysma  myoicles,  i.  19. 

Pleoostomus,  head-tentacles  of  the  male  of 
a  species  of,  ii.  10. 

Plecostomiis  harbatus,  peculiar  beard  of 
the  male,  ii.  10. 

Plectropteriis  gamhensis,  spurred  ■wings 
of;  ii.  44. 

Ploceus,  ii.  52. 

Plovers,  wing-spurs  of,  ii.  44 ;  double 
moult  in,  ii.  79. 


Plitmage,  changes  of,  inheritance  of,  by 
fowls,  i.  272 ;  tendency  to  analogous 
variation  in,  ii.  70 ;  display  of;  by  male 
birds,  ii.  82,  92 ;  changes  of,  in  relation  to 
season,  ii.  172;  immature,  of  birds,  ii. 
175,179;  color  of,  in  relation  to  protec- 
tion, ii.  213. 

Plumes  on  the  head  in  birds,  difference  of, 
in  the  sexes,  ii.  156. 

l^neumora,  structure  of,  i.  346. 

Podica,  sexual  difterence  in  the  color  of 
the  irides  of  ii.  123. 

PoEPPiG,  on  the  contact  of  civilized  and 
savage  races,  i.  230. 

Poison,  avoidance  of,  by  animals,  i.  48. 

PoiBONocs  fruits  and  herbs  avoided  by 
animals,  i.  35. 

Poisons,  immunity  from,  correlated  -with 
color,  i.  233. 

Polish  fowls,  origin  of  the  crest  in,  i.  275. 

Pollen  and  VanDam,  on  the  colors  of  Le- 
mur macaco,  ii.  276. 

Polyandry,  ii.  349 ;  in  certain  c^-prinidEe, 
i.  306 ;  among  the  elateridie,  1.  305. 

Polydactylism  in  man,  i.  120. 

Polygamy,  influence  of,  upon  sexual  selec- 
tion, i.  257 ;  superinduced  by  domesti- 
cation, i.  262 ;  supposed  increase  of  fe- 
male bu-ths  by,  i.  293 ;  in  the  stickleback, 
ii.2.  ■^ 

Polygenists,  i.  220. 

Polynesia,  prevalence  of  infanticide  in,  ii. 
347. 

Polynesians,  aversion  of,  to  hairs  on  the 
flice,  ii,  332 ;  wide  geographical  range  of, 
i.  lOS ;  difference  of  stature  among  the,  i. 
110;  crosses  of,  i.  217;  variability  of,  i. 
217 ;  heterogeneit}'  of  the,  i.  232. 

Polyplectron,  display  of  plumage  by  the 
male,  ii.  86  ;  number  of  spurs  in,  ii.  43  ; 
gradation  of  characters  in,  ii.  131 ;  female 
ot;  ii.  185. 

Polyplectron  ehinquis,  ii.  86, 132, 133. 

Po/yp/ecfron,  Ilardu-icJcii,  ii.  132, 133. 

Polyplectron,  Malaccense,  ii.  133, 184. 

Polyplectron  Ndpoleonis,  ii.  132, 134. 

POLYZOA,  i.  315. 

Pontoporeia  affinis,  i.  819. 

Porcupine,  mute,  except  in  the  ruttmg- 
season,  ii.  261. 

Pores,  excretory,  numerical  relation  of;  to 
the  haii-s  in  sheep,  i.  239. 

Porpitm,  bright  colors  of  some,  i.  313. 

Portax  picta,  dorsal  crest  and  throat-tuft 
of,  ii.  268 ;  sexual  differences  of  color  in, 
ii.  274,  286. 

Portunus  puber,  pugnacity  of,  i.  823. 

Potamochoerii-s  penicillatus,  tusks  and 
facial  knobs  of  the,  ii.  254. 

PouciiET,  G.,  on  the  ratio  of  instinct  and 
intelligence,  i.  36;  on  the  instincts  of 
ants, i.  ISO;  on  the  caves  of  Abou-Sim- 
bel,  i.  209 ;  on  the  immunity  of  negroes 
from  j'ellow  fever,  i  234. 

Pouter  pigeon,  late  development  of  the 
large  crop  in,  i.  2S4. 

Power,  Dr.,  on  the  different  colors  of  tha 
sexes  in  a  species  of  Squilla,  i.  826. 


424 


INDEX. 


PowTfi,  Mr.,  on  ths  habits  of  the  chaffinch 
In  Corfu,  1.  29S. 

PREKMINENrF.  of  m.in,  i.  131. 

I'REKERENfK  for  iiinles  by  femnlc  liiixl.s.  ii. 
l"'*,  117;  shown  by  iiiainmals,  in  p.ilr- 
inc.  ii.  25(;. 

rRKiiENRiLE  orpnns.  i.  24**. 

PrexoijtU  entellus,  fljfhtinp  of  the  mnic,  ii. 
309. 

Preyer,  Dr.,  on  supernuinornr)'  mammiE 
in  women,  i.  120. 

I'ltiniARD,  on  the  difference  of  stature 
among:  the  Polynesians,  i.  110;  on  the 
connertion  lietwcen  the  l)rea(llh  of  the 
slviill  in  the  Monfjolians  and  the  ]>erfec- 
tion  of  their  sense.s,  i.  114;  on  the  ca- 
pacity' of  British  skulls  of  different  ajres, 
i.  140  ;  on  the  flattened  hciuls  of  the 
Colombian  savafres.  ii.  324;  on  Siamese 
notions  of  beautv.  ii.  329 ;  on  the  bcard- 
lessness  of  the  Siamese,  ii.  3.32 ;  on  the 
deformation  of  the  head  amonfj  Ameri- 
can tribes  and  the  natives  of  Arakhan,  ii. 
335. 

Pklmary  sexual  organs,  i.  246. 

Primates,  i.  183;  se.xual  differences  of 
color  in,  ii.  277. 

PKi.MdGENiTrnE,  evils  of,  i.  163. 

Primula,  relation  between  number  and 
size  of  seeds  in,  i.  309. 

Prioxidx,  difference  of  the  sc.xes  in  color, 
i.  •At^(^. 

Provtdtretux  mvltimaculnttifi,  ii,  24,  85. 

Prortotretux  tenuis,  sexual  diflerence  in 
the  color  of,  ii.  3.5. 

PROFLIGArY,  i.  16(5. 

Procenitors.  early,  of  man,  i.  198. 

Pro(;re.s8.  not  the"  normal  rule  in  human 
society,  i.  IGO;  element.s  of.  i.  170. 

Prong-horm,  boms  of  i.  2S0. 

PRoroRTioNs,  dilferenco  of,  in  distinct 
races,  i.  208. 

Protective  coloring  in  butterflies,  i.  392 ; 
in  hzanls,  ii.  3.');  in  bu-ds,  ii.  ISS,  214;  in 
mammals,  ii.  2s3,  2S4. 

Protkitive  n.aturc  of  the  dull  coloring  of 
feu)ale  Lepidoptera,  i.  390.  392.  401. 

Protective  rcsembla:ices  in  fishes,  ii.  IS. 

Protozoa,  absence  of  secondaiy  sexual 
characters  in,  i.  812. 

PRrNER-BEV,  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
supra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  humerus 
of  man,  i.  28 ;  on  the  color  of  negro  in- 
fants, ii.  803. 

Prtssia.  numerical  proportion  of  male  and 
female  births  in,  i.  292. 

Pnoctig,  proiiortions  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
806. 

Ptarmigan,  monogamous,  1.  261 ;  summer 
and  winter  jiluiiiage  of  the,  ii.  78,  79; 
uu]itlnl  assemblages  of  Ii.  97 ;  trii)le 
moult  of  the,  ii.  173;  protective  colora- 
tion of,  ii.  189. 

PfFF-iiiRDs,  colors  and  nidiflcation  of  the, 
ii.  163. 

PrcsAciry  of  flne-plumaged  male  birds, 
ii.  89. 

PvMAs,  Stripes  of  young,' ii.  \"). 


Puppies  learning  from  cats  to  clean  tlielr 
faces,  i.  43. 

Pi/cnoiiofuH  fitrworfhoun,  pugnacity  of 
the  male.  ii.  39;  disiilay  of  under-tail 
coverts  by  the  male,  ii.  91. 

Pi/ranfin  (Fxtiva,  male  aiding  in  Incuba- 
tion, ii.  l.W. 

Pi/rorles,  difference  of  the  sexes  in  color, 
i.  856. 

QfADRi-.MAN.v  hands  of,  i.  134;  differences 
between  man  and  the,  i.  188;  dependence 
of.  on  climate,  i.  210;  sexual  differences 
of  color  in,  ii.  276;  ornament'd  charac- 
ters of  ii,  291 ;  analogj-  of  sexual  differ- 
ences of.  with  tho.se  of  man,  ii.  -So:? ;  fight- 
ing of  males  for  the  females,  ii.  3o9 ;  mo- 
nogamous habits  of  ii.  .345;  beards  of  the, 
ii.  3G1. 

QfAiN.  R..  on  the  variation  of  the  muscles 
in  man.  i.  105. 

QuATREF.VGEs,  A.  de.  on  the  occun-ence  of 
a  rudimentary  tiiil  in  man.  i.  2> :  on  the 
moral  sense  as  a  distinction  between 
man  and  animals,  i.  67;  on  variability,  i. 
108;  on  the  fertiUty  of -Vustralian  women 
with  white  men,  i.'213;  on  the  Paulistas 
of  Brazil,  i.  216;  on  the  evolution  of  the 
breeds  of  cattle,  i.  222 ;  on  the  Jews,  i. 
2;33 ;  on  the  liability  of  negroes  to  tropi- 
cal fevers  after  residence  in  a  cold  cli- 
mate, i.  284;  on  the  difference  between 
field-  and  house-slaves,  i.  237 ;  on  the  in- 
fluence of  climate  on  color,  i.  237 ;  on  the 
Ainos,  ii.  3iiG;  on  the  women  of  San 
Giuliano.  ii.  341. 

QvEcnrA  Indi.ans.  i.  114;  loc.il  variation  of 
color  in  the,  i.  237 ;  no  gray  hair  among 
the.  ii.  820 ;  hairlessness  of  the,  ii.  307 ; 
long  hair  of  the,  ii.  831. 

Quenjui'/^/uld  acuta,  ii.  100. 

Qui.icaluK  timjor.  proportions  of  the  sexes 
of,  in  Florid.i  and  Honduras,  i.  298. 


a. 

Rabbit,  white  tail  of  the.  ii.  284. 

Rabbits,  danger-signals  of,  i.  71 ;  domestic 
elongation  of  the  skull  in.  i.  142;  modifi- 
cation of  the  skull  in.  by  the  lopping  of 
the  ear.  i.  142;  numerical  proportion  of 
the  sexes  in,  i.  295. 

Races,  distinctive  characters  of,  i.  208;  or 
species  of  man,  i.  210;  crossed,  fertility 
or  sterility  of,  i.  212 ;  of  man.  variability 
of  the.  i.  217;  of  man.  resemblance  of  in 
mental  characters,  i.  223 ;  formation  of,  i. 
225;  of  man,  extinction  of  i.  226;  efl'ects 
of  the  crossing  of  i.  281 ;  of  innn.  forma- 
tion of  the,  i.  231  ;  of  man,  children  of 
the,  ii.  803;  beardless,  aversion  of;  to 
hairs  on  the  ftice.  ii.  33:?. 

RAFF1.E.S,  Sir  S.,  on  the  Banteng.  ii.  276. 

Kavts.  use  of  i.  132,  22f>. 

Kage,  manifested  by  animals,  i.  89. 


INDEX. 


435 


Eaia  batis,  teeth  of,  ii.  6. 

Baia  clavata,  female  spined  on  the  back, 
ii.  2 :  sexual  difference  in  the  teeth  otj 
ii.  6. 

Raia  maculafa,  teeth  of,  ii.  6. 

Rails,  spur-wing-ed,  ii.  44. 

Eam,  mode  of  fighting  of  the,  ii.  2.33 ;  Afri- 
can, mane  of  an,  ii.  271 ;  fat-tailed,  ii.  271. 

Eameses  II.,  i.  209. 

Eamsat,  Mr.,  on  the  Australian  Musk- 
duck,  ii.  30;  on  the  Regent-bird,  ii.  108; 
on  the  incubation  of  Meniira  guperba, 
ii.  157. 

liOna  esculerita,  vocal  sacs  of,  ii.  26. 

Eat,  common,  general  dispersion  of  a 
consequence  of  superior  cunning,  i.  49 ; 
supplantation  of  the  native,  in  New 
Zealand,  by  the  European  rat,  i.  231; 
common,  said  to  he  polygamous,  i.  259 ; 
numerical  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
296. 

Eats,  enticed  by  essential  oils,  ii.  267. 

Eationality  of  birds, -ii.  104. 

Rattlesnakes,  difference  of  the  sexes  in 
the,  ii.  2S ;  said  to  use  their  rattles  as  a 
sexu.al  call,  ii.  2S. 

Raven,  vocal  organs  of  the.  ii.  52 ;  steahng 
bright  objects,  ii.  107;  pied,  of  the  Feroe 
Islands,  ii.  121. 

Rays,  prehensile  organs  of  male,  ii.  1. 

Razor-bill,  young  of  the,  ii.  208. 

Reade,  Winwood,  on  the  Guinea  sheep,  i. 
280;  non-development  of  horns  in  cas- 
trated male  Guinea-sheep,  ii.  236;  on  the 
occurrence  of  a  mane  in  an  African  ram, 
ii.  271 ;  on  the  negroes'  appreciation  of 
the  beauty  of  their  women,  ii.  323;  on 
the  admiration  of  negroes  for  a  black 
skin,  ii.  330 ;  on  the  idea  of  beauty 
among  negroes,  ii.  334;  on  the  Jollofs, 
ii.  341 ;  on  the  marriage-customs  of  the 
negroes,  ii.  357. 

Reason,  in  animals,  i.  45. 

Redstart,  American,  breeding  in  imma- 
ture plumage,  ii.  205. 

Redstarts,  new  mates  found  by,  ii.  101. 

Redl'vid.e,  stridulation  of,  i.  340. 

Reed-cunting,  head-feathers  of  the  male, 
ii.  91 ;  attacked  by  a  bullfinch,  ii.  106. 

Reefs,  fishes  frequenting,  ii.  17. 

Regeneration,  partial,  of  lost  parts  in 
m.an,  i.  13. 

Regent-bird,  ii.  108. 

Reindeer,  antlers  of,  with  numerous 
points,  ii.  241 ;  sexual  preferences  shown 
by,  ii.  260;  horns  of  the,  i.  279;  winter 
change  of  the,  ii.  284 ;  battles  of,  ii.  229 ; 
horns  of  the  female,  ii.  232. 

Relationship,  terms  of,  ii.  344. 

Religion,  deficiency  o^  among  certain 
races,  i.  62 ;  psychical  elements  of,  i.  65. 

Remorse,  i.  87;  deficiency  oi,  among  sav- 
ages, i.  158. 

Renggeb,  on  the  diseases  of  Cebtis  Azane, 
i.  11 ;  on  maternal  affection  in  a  Cef/us,  i. 
39 ;  revenge  taken  by  monkeys,  i.  39 ;  on 
the  reasoning  powers  of  American  mon- 
keys, i.  45;  on  the  use  of  stones  by  mon- 


keys for  cracking  hard  nuts,  i.  49;  on 
the  sounds  uttered  by  Cebus  Azara,  i. 
52 ;  on  the  signal-cries  of  monkeys,  i.  55 ; 
on  the  diversity  of  the  mental  "faculties 
of  monkeys,  i.  i06 ;  on  the  P.ayaguas  In- 
dians, i.  112;  on  the  inferiority  of  Euro- 
peans to  savages  in  their  senses,  i.  114; 
on  the  polygamous  habits  of  Mi/ce/e.s 
earaya,  i.  253 ;  on  the  voice  of  the  howl- 
ing monkeys,  ii.  264;  on  the  odor  of 
Cervus  campestris,  ii.  266 ;  on  the  beards 
of  Mycetea  caraya  and  PWiecia  Sa- 
tana.%  ii.  269;  on  the  colors  of  Fells 
mitU.  ii.  274;  on  the  colors  of  Cervus 
pa/udosiis,  ii.  276;  on  sexual  differences 
of  color  in  Myeetes,  ii.  277 ;  on  the  color 
of  the  infant  Guaranys,  ii.  303 ;  on  the 
early  matui-ity  of  the  female  of  Cehus 
Azarm,  ii.  303;  on  the  beards  of  the 
Guaranys,  ii.  307 ;  on  the  emotional  notes 
employed  by  monkeys,  ii.  320 ;  on  Ameri- 
can polygamous  monkeys,  ii.  346. 

Representative  species,  of  birds,  ii.  182, 
18.3. 

Reproduction,  unity  of  phenomena  ofj 
throughout  the  mammalia,  i.  13 ;  period 
of,  in  birds,  ii.  205. 

Reproductive  system,  rudimentary 
structures  in  the,  i.  29;  accessory  parts 
of,  i.  199. 

Reptiles,  ii.  26. 

Reptiles  and  birds,  alliance  of,  i.  204. 

Rese.mblances,  sniaU,  between  man  and 
the  apes,  i.  184. 

Retrievers,  exercise  of  reasoning  faculties 
by,  i.  46. 

Revenge,  manifested  by  animals,  i.  39. 

Reversion,  i.  117;  perhaps  the  cause  of 
some  bad  dispositions,  i.  166. 

lihagium,  difference  of  color  in  the  sexe.s 
of  a  species  o^  i.  356. 

EampluKtos  carinatiis,  ii.  217. 

RniNOCEROs,  nakedness  of,  i.  143;  horns 
of  ii.  236 ;  horns  of,  used  defensively,  ii. 
251 ;  attacking  white  or  gray  horses,  ii. 
281. 

Jthyneham,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii.  193. 

RhyncJuue  Au^tralis,  ii.  193. 

RhynichcEa  Bengalenms,  ii.  193. 

Bhynchcea  capensis,  ii.  193. 

Rhythm,  perception  of,  by  animals,  ii.  317. 

Richard,  M.,  on  rudimentary  muscles  in 
man,  i.  19. 

Richardson,  Sir  J.,  on  the  pairing  of 
Tetrao  ^^mbellull/n.  i()\  on  Tetrao  uro- 
pha»ianus,  ii.  56 ;  on  the  drumming  of 
grouse,  ii.  60 ;  on  the  dances  of  Tetrao 
jyhasianeUiw.  ii.  66;  on  assemblages  of 
grouse,  ii.  97;  on  the  battles  of  male 
deer,  ii.  229 ;  on  the  reindeer,  ii.  233 ;  on 
the  horns  of  the  musk-ox,  ii.  236;  on 
antlers  of  the  reindeer,  with  numerous 
points,  ii.  241 ;  on  the  moose,  ii.  247^ 

Richardson,  on  the  Scotch  deer-hound,  ii. 
250. 

Richter,  Jean  Paul,  on  imagination,  i.  44. 

Riedel,  on  profligate  femalg  pigeons,  ii. 
114. 


426 


INDEX. 


RiNG-orzEL,  colors  and  niJirioation  of  the, 
ii.  102. 

ItiPA,  Katlior,  on  the  (lifTiculty  of  distin- 
(JTiiishin;;  the  racos  of  the  Chinese,  i.  2(1". 

EivAi.RT,  ill  singing,  between  male  birds, 
ii.  M. 

KivEK-uoo,  African,  tiislcs  and  knobs  of 
tlie.  ii.  2">4. 

EivER-s,  analogj-  of,  to  i.slands.  i.  196. 

KoAcii,  bri;rlitness  of  male  during  breeding- 
season,  ii.  13. 

EonBERV,  of  strangers,  considered  honor- 
able, i.  yo. 

EoBERTSOX.  Mr.,  remarks  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  horns  in  the  roebuck  and 
red-deer,  i.  279. 

Robin,  pugnacity  of  the  male,  ii.  38 ;  au- 
tumn song  of  the,  ii.  51 ;  female,  singing 
of  the,  ii.  51 ;  attacking  other  birds  with 
red  in  theu-  plum.ige,  ii.  106;  young  of 
the,  il.  199. 

RouisET,  on  the  difference  of  size  of  the 
male  and  female  cocoons  of  the  silk- 
moth,  i.  335. 

Rodents,  uterus  in  the.  i.  118;  absence  of 
secondary  se.xual  characters  in,  i.  259; 
sexual  ditferenees  in  the  colors  of,  ii.  272. 

Roe,  winter  change  of  the,  ii.  2i4. 

RoLLE,  F.,  on  the  origin  of  m.in,  i.  4 ;  on  a 
change  in  German  famiUes  settled  in 
Georgiii,  i.  237. 

Roller,  ii.  53. 

Romans,  ancient,  gladiatorial  exhibitions  of 
the,  i.  97. 

Rook,  voic?  of  the,  ii.  58. 

RossLER,  Dr.,  on  the  resemblance  of  the 
lower  surface  of  buttei-llies  to  the  bark  of 
trees,  i.  3S0. 

RosTRU.M,  sexual  difference  in  the  length 
of^  in  some  weevils,  i.  247. 

RcDiMENTARV  Organs,  i.  17;  origin  oC  i. 
31. 

Rudiments,  presence  of,  in  languages,  i. 
58. 

RrDOLPin,  on  the  want  of  connection  be- 
tween climate  and  the  color  of  tlie  skin, 
i.  232. 

Ruff,  supposed  to  be  polygamous,  i.  261 ; 
proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the,  i.  297; 
pugnacity  of  the,  ii.  39,  44;  double 
moult  in,  ii.  78,  80;  duration  of  dances  of, 
ii.  96 ;  attraction  of  the,  to  bright  objects, 
ii.  107. 

RfMiNANTS,  m-ile,  disappearance  of  cinine 
teeth  in,  i.  139;  ii.  311 ;  generally  polyg- 
amous, 1.  258;  analogy  of  Laniellicbrn 
beetles  to,  i.  362;  suborbital  pits  ot^  ii. 
267;  sexual  differences  of  color  in,  ii. 
274. 

liiipicola  crocfa,  disi)lay  of  plum.nge  by 
the  male,  ii.  88. 

RCri'ELL,  on  o.inino  teeth  in  deer  and  an- 
telopes, il.  246. 

Russia,  numerical  proportion  of  male  and 
female  births  in,  i.  291. 

linticilla,  ii.  172. 

RCtlmeyer,  VxoU  on  the  sexual  differences 
of  monkeys,  ii.  30lj. 


RuTLANDsiinsE,  numerical  proportion  of 
mole  and  female  births  in,  i.  291. 


S. 


Sachs,  Prof.,  on  the  behavior  of  the  male 
and  female  elements  la  fertilization,  i. 
26.'>. 

SArRiFiCE.s.  Human,  i.  175. 

Sagittal  crest  in  male  apes  and  Austra- 
lians, ii.  304. 

Sahara,  birds  of  the.  ii.  161;  animal  in- 
habiUints  of  the.  ii.  214. 

Sailors,  growth  oC  delayed  by  conditions 
of  hie.  i.  110;  long-slirhted,  i.  113. 

Sailors  and  soldiers,  dilfereuce  In  the  pro- 
portions of.  i.  112. 

St.  John,  Mr.,  on  the  attachment  of  mated 
birds,  fi.  104. 

St.  Kilda,  beards  of  the  inhabitants  of;  ii. 
306. 

Sahno  eriox.  and  S.  vmbla,  coloring  of  the 
male,  durin:.'  the  breeding-season,  ii.  14. 

Sii/i/io  !)/caoi/(»^\.  4. 

/fki/ino  sd/tir,  ii.  9l 

Salmon,  leaping  out  of  fresh  water,  i.  80; 
male,  ready  to  breed  liefore  the  female, 
i.  2.')2 ;  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i.  299 ; 
male,  i>ugnacity  of  the.  ii.  3 :  male,  char- 
acters ot;  during  the  breeding-season,  ii. 
3.  14;  spawning  of  the.  ii.  18;  breeding 
of  immature  male.  ii.  2o6. 

Salvin,  O.,  on  the  Humming-bii-ds,  i.  260; 
ii.  161 ;  on  the  numerical  proportion  of 
the  sexes  in  Humming-birds,  i.  298,  ii. 
212;  on  C/umxrpetes  and  Penelope,  ii. 
61;  on  Selattplioru.'i  phiti/c^rcun,  ii.  62; 
on  Pipra  ileliciona,  ii.  &3 ;  on  C/ui«mo- 
rhijiifhun.  ii.  70. 

Samoa  Islands,  beardlessness  of  the  natives 
of,  u.  307,  3*3. 

Sand-skipper,  i.  323. 

Sandwich  Islands,  variation  in  the  skulls  ' 
of  the  natives  of  the,  i.  105;  superiority 
of  the  nobles  in  the.  ii.  340. 

Sandwich  Islanders,  lice  o£  i.  211. 

San  Giuliano,  women  of,  ii.  341. 

Sant.\ll  recent  rapid  increase  of  the,  i. 
128;  Mr.  Hunter  on  the.  i.  232. 

Sap/iirina,  characters  of  the  males  oi;  i. 
326. 

Sarl'idiomU  melanonotus, characters  of 
the  young,  ii.  177. 

Sars,  O..  on  Po)itoporeia  offlnU.  i.  319. 

Sat  urn  in  carpini,  attraction  of  males  by 
the  female,  i.  303. 

Saturn  id  lo.  difference  of  coloration  in  the 
sexes  of,  i.  38.'). 

Satuniiittee,  coloration  of  the,  1.  38.3,  885. 

Savagf.,  Dr..  on  the  lighting  of  the  male 
gorillas,  ii.  309 ;  on  the  habits  of  the  go- 
rilla, ii.  346. 

Savage  and  Wjiuan,  on  the  polygamous 
h-ibits  of  the  gorilb,  i.  258. 

Sav.\ges,  imitative  faculties  of  i.  5,").  1,V); 
causes  of  low  moraUtj-  of.  1. 9:3 ;  uniform- 
ity oi;  exjiggorated,  i.  107;  long-sighted, 


IxVDEX. 


437 


1.  113;  rate  of  increase  among:,  usually- 
small,  i.  117;  retention  of  the  prehensile 
power  of  the  feet  by,  i.  136;  tribes  of, 
supplanting  one  another,  i.  154 ;  improve- 
ments in  the  arts  among,  1.  175;  arts  of, 
i.  225;  fondness  of,  for  rough  music,  ii. 
64;  attention  paid  by,  to  personal  ap- 
pearance, ii.  322;  relation  of  the  sexes 
among,  ii.  347. 

Saw-fly,  pugnacity  of  a  male,  i.  358. 

Saw-flles,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
305. 

Saxicola  rubicola,  young  o^  ii  210. 

Scalp,  motion  of  the,  i.  20. 

Scent-glands  in  snakes,  ii.  2S. 

Schaaffhausen,  Prof.,  on  the  develop- 
ment ot  the  posterior  molars  ua  ditfereut 
races  of  man,  i.  2G ;  on  the  jaw  from  La 
Naulette,  i.  122;  on  the  correlation  be- 
tween muscularity  and  prominent  supra- 
orbital ridges,  i.  126 ;  on  the  mastoid  pro- 
cesses of  man,  i.  13S;  on  modifications 
of  the  cranial  bones,  i.  141 ;  on  human 
sacrifices,  i.  175 ;  on  the  probable  speedy 
extermination  of  the  anthropomorphous 
apes,  1.  193;  on  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  Europe,  i.  228 ;  on  the  effects  of  use 
and  disuse  of  parts,  i.  238 ;  on  the  super- 
ciliary ridge  in  man,  ii.  301 ;  on  the  ab- 
sence of  race-difierences  in  the  infant 
skull  in  man,  ii.  303 ;  on  ugliness,  ii.  387. 

Schaum,  H.,  on  the  elyti-a  of  DyiisciM  and 
//i/droporu,%  i.  333. 

ScHELVER,  on  dragon-flies,  i.  352. 

ScmoDTE,  on  the  stridulation  of  JTetero- 
cern,%  i.  368. 

ScHLEGEL,  F.  von,  on  the  complexitj'  of 
the  languages  of  uncivilized  peoples,  i. 
59. 

SciiLEGEL,  Prof.,  on  Tanysiptera,  ii.  1S2. 

Schleicher,  Prof,  on  the  origin  of  lan- 
guage, i.  54. 

ScHLEiDEN,  Prof.,  On  the  rattlesnake,  ii.  28. 

SoHoxiBURGK,  Sir  K.,  on  the  pugnacity  of 
the  male  musk-duck  of  Guiana,  ii.  40; 
on  the  com-tship  of  Rupicola  crocea,  ii. 
S3. 

Scuoolckaft,  Mr.,  on  the  difiiculty  of  fash- 
ioning stone  implements,  i.  133. 

ScLATER,  P.  L.,  on  modified  secondary 
\ving-feathers  in  the  males  of  Pipnt,  ii. 
62 ;  on  elongated  feathers  in  night-jars,  ii. 
69;  on  the  species  of  Cha>f)norhi/nchn-8, 
ii.  76;  on  the  phnnage  of  Pelecanus 
onocrotatuii,  ii.  62 ;  on  the  plaintain- 
eaters,  ii.  169 ;  on  tlie  sexes  and  young 
of  Tadorna  variegata,  ii.  197;  on  the 
colors  of  Lemur  inacaco^  ii.  277 ;  on  the 
stripes  in  asses,  ii.  291. 

ScoLECiDA,  absence  of  secondary  sexual 
characters  in,  i.  312. 

Scolopax  frenata,  tail-feathers  of  ii.  61. 

Scolopax  gallinago,  drumming  of,  ii.  60. 

Scolopax  Javensis,  tail-feathers  of,  ii.  61. 

Scolopax  major,  assembUes  of  ii.  97. 

Scnlopax  Wiko/iii,  sound  produced  b}',  ii. 

Scoltjtus,  stridulation  of,  i.  368, 


ScOTER-DtrcK,  black,  sexual  difference  in 
coloration  of  the,  ii.  216;  bright  beak  of 
male,  ii.  217. 

Scott,  J.,  on  the  color  of  the  beard  in  man, 
ii.  304. 

ScROPE,  on  the  pugnacity  of  the  male  salm- 
on, ii.  3 ;  on  the  battle's  of  stags,  ii.  229. 

ScuDDER,  S.  II.,  imitation  of  the  stridu- 
lation of  the  Orthoptera,  i.  343;  on  the 
stridulation  of  the  Acridiida\  i.  846 ;  on 
a  Devonian  insect,  i.  349 ;  on  stridulation, 
ii.  315. 

ScuLPTCKE.  expression  of  the  ideal  of  beau- 
ty by,  ii.  383. 

Sea-ane.mones,  bright  colors  of,  i.  313. 

Sea-bear,  polygamous,  i.  260. 

Sea-elephant,  male,  structure  of  the  nose 
of  the,  ii.  264 ;  polygamous,  i.  260. 

SEA-LiOfT,  polygamous,  i.  200. 

Seal,  bladder-nose,  ii.  265. 

Seals,  their  sentinels  generally  females,  i. 
71 ;  e\'idence  fm-nished  by,  on  classifica- 
tion, i.  183 ;  sexual  differences  in  the  col- 
oration of,  ii.  278 ;  appreciation  of  music 
by.  ii.  317 ;  battles  of  male,  ii.  229 ;  ca- 
nine teeth  of  male,  ii.  230 ;  polygamous 
habits  of,  i.  260 ;  pau-lng  of,  ii.  257 ;  sex- 
ual peculiarities  of  ii.  264. 

Sea-scorpion,  sexual  differences  in,  ii.  9. 

Season,  changes  of  color  in  birds,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the,  ii.  77;  changes  of  plu- 
mage of  birds  in  relation  to,  ii.  172. 

Seasons,  inheritance  at  corresponding,  i. 
273. 

Sebititani,  ii.  .324. 

Sebright  Bantam,  i.  2S5. 

Secondary  sexual  characters,  i.  245 ;  rela- 
tions of  polygamy  to,  i.  257 ;  gradation 
of,  in  birds,  ii.  129 ;  transmitted  through 
both  sexes,  i.  270. 

Sedgwick,  "W.,  on  hereditary'  tendency  to 
produce  twins,  i.  128. 

Seemann,  Dr.,  on  the  different  appreciation 
of  music  by  different  peoples,  ii.  318 ;  on 
the  effects  of  music,  ii.  320. 

Selasphorus  platycercus,  acuminate  first 
primary  of  the  male,  ii.  62. 

Selby,  p.  J.,  on  the  habits  of  the  black 
and  red  grouse,  i.  260. 

Selection,  double,  i.  267. 

Selection  of  male  by  female  bh-ds,  ii.  95, 
117. 

Selection,  methodical,  of  Prussian  grena- 
diers, i.  108. 

Selection,  sexual,  influence  of,  on  the  col- 
oring of  Lepidoptera,  i.  390 ;  explanation 
of  i.  248,  252,  262. 

Selection,  sexual  and  natural,  contrasted, 
i.  270. 

Self-command,  habit  of,  inherited,  i.  88; 
estimation  of  i.  91. 

SELF-CONSCIOrSNESS,  1.  60. 

Self-preserv.ition,  instinct  of,  i.  85. 

Self-saceifice,  by  savages,  i.  84;  estima- 
tion of  i.  91. 

Semilunar  fold,  i.  23. 

Semnopithecus,  i.  189;  long  hair  on  the 
heads  of  species  of,  i.  184,  ii.  363. 


428 


INDEX. 


SemnopiViecus chrmomelas,  sexual  dlffer- 
encos  of  color  in,  11.  277. 

Seiiiiiopif/ieciiJt  comatus,  ornamental  hair 
on  the  head  oi;  11.  291. 

Semiiopithtcii«  frotitatus,  beard,  etc.,  of, 
ii.  2!U. 

."i-m/topithecio  natiica,  nose  of,  1. 1S>4. 

Sfmiiopit/iecm  nemxua,  coloring  of,  ii. 
296. 

Semnopiiliecun  riihicxnrluft,  ornamental 
hair  on  tlio  head  of,  ii.  291. 

Se.nses,  infiTiority  of  Eurojieans  to  savages 
intho,  i.  114. 

Sentinels,  i.  71,  79. 

Serpents,  instinctively  dreaded  by  apes 
and  monkeys.  1.  30,  41. 

Sirmnii.'i.  horiimpliroditism  in, J.  200. 

Sex,  inhoritaiKT  liiiiitt'il  tiy.  i.  273. 

Sexes,  rcliilivo  pnijiortions  of,  in  man,  1. 
291,  ii.  3(!,") ;  iiroliablc  relation  of  the,  in 
primeval  man,  ii.  346. 

Sexual  characters,  secondary,  i.  245;  rela- 
tions of  polvgamy  to,  1. 2r)9 ;  transmitted 
throuirli  both  sc.xcs,  i.  270;  gradation  of; 
in  birds,  ii.  129. 

Sexual  and  natural  selection,  contrasted, 
i.  269. 

Sexual  characters,  effects  of  the  loss  of,  i. 
275;  hniitation  of.  i.  275. 

Sexual  dItVerenccs  in  man.  i.  14. 

Sexual  selection,  expl.ination  of,  i.  24S, 
252.  262 ;  inllucncc  of,  on  the  coloring  of 
Lopidoptcra,  i.  390;  action  of,  in  man- 
kind, ii.  3.V2. 

Sexual  similarity,  i.  263. 

Sharks,  prehensile  organs  of  male,  ii.  1. 

SiiABi'E,  K.  15.,  on  Tain/Kiptera  mj/via.  ii. 
157;  on  Ceri/le,  ii.  165;  on  the  young 
male  of  Dact/o  Gaudichaiuli,  ii.  ISO. 

SuAW,  Mr.,  on  tlie  pugnacity  of  the  male 
salmon,  ii.  3. 

Shaw,  J.,  on  the  decorations  of  birds, 
ii.  CS. 

Sheep,  danger-signals  of.  i.  74 ;  sexual  dif- 
ferences in  the  horns  of,  i.  274 ;  horns  of; 
i.  2S0 ;  ii.  235,  247 ;  domestic,  sexual  dif- 
ferences of,  late  developed,  i.  2S3;  nu- 
merical ])rop.>rtion  of  the  sexes  in,  i.  295; 
mode  of  tigliting  of,  ii.  28S ;  arched  fore- 
heads of  SDHic.  ii.  271. 

Sheep,  Merino,  loss  of  horns  in  females  of, 
1.  275 ;  horns  o£  1.  2S0. 

Shells,  ditference  in  form  of,  in  male  and 
female    Gasteropoda,  i.  315 ;    beautiful 
colors  and  shai)es  of,  i.  316. 
SniELP-DRAKE,   pairing  with    a    common 
duck,  ii.  109 ;    New  Zealand,  sexes  and 
young  of,  ii.  197. 
SuooTEK,  J.,  on  the  Kaffres,  ii.  331 ;  on  the 
mamage-custoinsof  tlie  Kaffros,  ii.  357. 
SnKEW-MicF,  odor  of.  ii.  265. 
Shrike,  Drongo.  ii.  171. 
Shrike-S  chai-.utcrs  of  young,  ii.  177. 
Shuckard,  W.  K.,  on  sixual  ililVcrences  in 

the  wings  of  llyincjioptenu  i.  •i^J4. 
SHYNE.S8  of  adorned  male  birds,  ii.  93. 
SifiOoniiim,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
305 ;  dimorphism  in  males  of,  i.  363. 


SlAM,  proportion  of  male  and  female  births 

in,  i.  29.3. 
Siamese,  general  beardlessness  of  the,  11. 

306;   notions  of  beauty  of  the,  ii.  829; 

hairy  fainilv  of,  ii.  361. 
Sir.uoLn,  C.  'f.,  von,  on  the  auditory  ap 

Iiaratus  of  the  stridulant  orthoptera,  1. 

SifliiT,  inheritance  of  long  and  short,  i.  114. 

Signal-cries  of  monkeys,  i.  5.5. 

SiLK-MDTH,  ditference  of  size  of  the  male 
and  female  cocoons  of  the.  i.  3:}6 ;  pairing 
of  the,  i.  3SS:  male,  fertilizing  two  or 
three  females,  i.  393 ;  proi)ortion  of  the 
sexes  in,  i.  300,  302  ;  Ailantus,  Prof.  Ca- 
nestrini,  on  the  destruction  of  its  larvas 
bv  wasps,  i.  302. 

Sim"iad,e,  i.  187;  their  origin  and  di\Tslons. 
i.  204. 

SiMiLABrrY.  sexual  i.  26S. 

Singing  of  the  Cicada  and  FulgoridiB,  1 
351 ;  of  tree-frogs,  ii.  25;  of  birds,  object 
of  the,  ii.  50. 

Sirenia,  nakedness  of,  i.  142. 

Sirex  jurenctts,  i.  354. 

SiRiciD.E,  difference  of  the  sexes  in,  1.  354. 

Siskin,  ii.  81 ;  pauing  with  a  canarj-,  ii. 
110. 

Sitana.  throat-pouch  of  the  males  of;  Ii 
31,  35. 

Size,  relative,  of  the  sexes  of  insects,  i.  335. 

Skin,  movement  of  the.  i.  19 ;  nakedness 
of,  in  man,  i.  142;  color  of  the,  i.  2-32. 

Skin  and  hair,  correlation  of  color  of;  1. 
2;}9. 

Skull,  variation  of.  in  man.  1.104;  cubic 
contents  of.  no  absolute  test  of  intellect, 
i.  140;  Keanderthal,  capacity  of  the.  i, 
140;  causes  of  inoditjcation  ofthe,  i.  141  ; 
difference  of,  in  form  and  capacity,  in  dif- 
ferent races  of  men.  i.  2oS ;  variability  of 
the  shape  ofthe,  i.  218;  ditferences  of;  in 
the  sexes  in  man,  ii.  302 ;  artificial  modi- 
fications of  the  shape  o£  ii.  324.  _ 

Skunk,  odor  emitted  by  the,  ii.  265. 

Slavery,  prevalence  of,  i.  90 ;  of  women, 
u.  350. 

Slaves,  differenice  between  those  of  field 
and  house,  i.  357. 

S.MELL,  sense  of,  in  m.in  and  animals,  1.  23. 

Smith,  Adam,  on  the  basis  of  sympathy, 
i.  7S. 

Smith,  Sir  A.,  on  the  recognition  of  women 
by  male  Ci/tiocep/tali.  i.  13;  on  an  in- 
sUince  of  memory  in  a  baboon,  i.  48;  on 
the  retention  of  their  color  by  the  Dutch 
in  South  .Vfrica,  i.  233;  on  tlie  polygamy 
ofthe  South  African  antelopes,  i.  258; 
on  the  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  Kobua 
el/ij/xijiri/i/iiiuM.i.  296;  on  Biicep/ialtia 
aijieiiKin'.Vt.  2s;  on  South  African  lizartls, 
ii.  35;  on  fighting  gnus,  ii.  229;  on  the 
horns  of  rhinoceroses,  ii.  237;  on  the 
fighting  of  lions,  ii.  254 ;  on  the  colors  of 
the  Cape  Eland,  ii.  274;  on  the  colors  of 
the  gnu,  ii.  275;  on  Hottentot  notions  of 
beautv,  ii.  829. 

Smith,  i\,  on  the  Cyniplda;  and  Tenthredl- 


INDEX. 


429 


Didffl,  i.  805 ;  on  the  relative  size  of  the 
sexes  of  Aculeate  Hymenoptera,  i.  337 ; 
on  the  difference  between  the  sexes  of 
ants  and  bees,  i.  354 ;  on  the  stridulation 
of  Trcm  sabulosns,  i.  369 ;  on  the  strid- 
ulation of  Mononychiis  pseudacofi,  i. 
371. 

Smynthnrus  hifev.%  courtship  o£  i.  338. 

Snakes,  sexual  differences  of,  ii.  2S ;  male, 
ardency  of,  ii.  29. 

"  Snaeling  JicscLEs,"  i.  122. 

Snipe,  drumming  of  the,  ii.  60 ;  coloration 
ofthe,  Ii.  216. 

Snipe,  painted,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii. 
193. 

Snipe,  solitary,  assembhes  of,  ii.  97. 

Snipes,  arrival  of  male  before  the  female, 
i.  251 ;  pugnacity  of  male,  ii.  41 ;  double 
moult  in,  ii.  77. 

Snow-goose,  whiteness  ofthe,  ii.  218. 

Social  animals,  aft'oetiou  of,  for  each  other, 
i.  73 ;  defence  o^  by  the  males,  1.  79. 

Sociability,  the  sense  of  duty  connected 
■with,  i.  68 ;  impulse  to,  in  animals,  1.  76, 
77 ;  manifestations  o^  in  man,  i.  81 ;  in- 
stinct of,  in  animals,  i.  82,  S3. 

SociALixy,  probable,  of  primeval  men,  i. 
149 ;  influence  of,  on  the  development  of 
the  intellectual  faculties,  i.  154 ;  origin  o^ 
In  man,  i.  155. 

SoLDiEEs,  American,  measurements  o^  i. 
108. 

Soldiers  and  sailors,  difference  in  the  pro- 
portions of^  i.  110. 

Solenoatoma,  bright  colors  and  marsupial 
sack  ofthe  females  of,  ii.  21. 

Song  of  male  birds  appreciated  by  their 
females,  i.  61  ;  want  of,  in  brilliant- 
plumaged  birds,  ii.  90 ;  of  birds,  ii.  156. 

Sorex,  odor  ot;  ii.  266. 

Sounds  admu-ed  alike  by  man  and  ani- 
mals, i.  62 ;  produced  by  fishes,  ii.  22 ; 
produced  by  male  frogs  and  toads,  ii.  25; 
instrumentally  produced  by  bh-ds,  ii.  61, 
et  seqq. 

Spain,  decadence  of,  i.  171. 

Sparassus  »maragdnliw,  difference  of 
color  in  the  sexes  of,  i.  328. 

Spakbow,  pugnacity  of  the  male,  ii.  38 ; 
acquisition  of  the  Linnefs  song  by  a,  ii. 
52 ;  coloration  of  the,  ii.  ISO ;  immature 
plumage  of  the,  ii.  ISO. 

Sparrow,  white-crowned,  young  of  the, 
ii.  208. 

Sparrows,  house-  and  tree-,  ii.  162. 

Sparrows,  new  mates  found  by,  ii.  101. 

Sparrows,  sexes  and  young  of,  ii.  203 ; 
learning  to  sing,  ii.  319. 

Spathura  Underwoodi,  ii.  74. 

Spawning  of  fishes,  ii.  15,  IS. 

Spear,  origin  ofthe,  i.  225. 

Species,  causes  of  the  advancement  of,  i. 
165;  distinctive  characters  of,  i.  200;  or 
races  of  m.an,  i.  209 ;  sterility  and  fertil- 
ity ot,  when  crossed,  i.  214 ;  supposed, 
of  man,  i.  218 ;  gradation  of,  i.  218 ;  diffi- 
culty of  defining,  i.  219  ;  representative, 
of  bu'ds,  ii.  182,  1S3 ;  of  birds,  compara- 


tive differences  between  the  sexes  of  dis- 
tinct, ii.  184. 

Spectre-insects,  mimicry  of  leaves  by,  i. 
401. 

/Spectrum  femoratum,  difference  of  color 
in  the  sexes  of,  i.  350. 

Speech,  connection  between  the  brain  and 
the  feculty  of  i.  56. 

"  Spel  "  of  the  black-cock,  ii.  58. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  on  the  dawn  of  intelh- 
gence,  i.  36 ;  on  the  origin  of  the  behef  in 
spiritual  agencies,  1.  63 ;  on  the  origin  of 
the  moral  sense,  i.  97 ;  on  the  influence 
of  food  on  the  size  of  the  jaws,  i.  113;  on 
the  ratio  between  individuation  and  gene- 
sis, i.  310;  on  music,  ii.  320. 

Sperm-wuales,  battles  of  male,  ii.  229. 

Spihngid.e,  coloration  ofthe,  i.  383. 

Sphinx,  Humming-bii-d,  i.  387. 

iSphinx,  Mr.  Bates  on  the  caterpillar  of  a, 
i.  402. 

Spiders,  i.  327 ;  male,  more  active  than  fe- 
male, i.  263 ;  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i. 
306 ;  male,  small  size  of,  i.  328. 

Spilosoma  menthrasti,  rejected  by  tur- 
keys, i.  386. 

Spine,  alteration  of,  to  suit  the  erect  atti- 
tude of  man,  i.  13S. 

Spirits,  fondness  of  monkeys  for,  i.  12. 

Spiritual  agencies,  behef  in,  almost  uni- 
versal, i.  62. 

Spoonbill,  ii.  57 ;  Chinese,  change  of  plu- 
mage in,  ii.  171. 

Spots,  retained  throughout  groups  of  buds, 
ii.  126 ;  disappearance  ot,  in  adult  mam- 
mals, ii.  288. 

Sprengel,  C.  K.,  on  the  sexuaUty  of  plants, 
i.  252.  .>      1-         . 

Spring-boc,  horns  ofthe,  ii.  239. 

Sproat,  Mr.,  on  the  extinction  of  savages 
in  Vancouver  Island,  i.  230 ;  on  the  eradi- 
cation of  facial  hah'  by  the  natives  of  V:m- 
couver  Island,  ii.  332 ;  on  the  eradication 
of  the  beard  by  the  Indians  of  Vancouver 
Island,  ii.  363. 

Spurs,  occun-ence  of;  in  female  fowls,  i. 
271,  275 ;  development  oi^  in  various  spe- 
cies of  Phasianidaj,  i.  281 ;  of  Gallinaceous 
birds,  ii.  41,  43;  development  ot;  in  fe- 
male Gallinaceae,  ii.  155. 

Squilla,  dhfferent  colors  of  the  sexes  of  a 
species  ot;  i.  326. 

Squirrels,  battles  of  male,  ii.  228 ;  Afl-ican, 
sexual  differences  in  the  coloring  ot;  ii. 
272 ;  black,  ii.  280. 

Stag,  long  hau-s  of  the  throat  of,  ii.  256; 
horns  of  the,  i.  270,  273 ;  battles  of,  ii. 
229 ;  horns  ofthe,  with  numerous  bnonch 
es,  ii.  241 ;  beUo^^'ing  of  the,  ii.  201 ;  crest 
of  the,  ii.  263. 

Stag-beetle,  large  size  of  male,  i.  836; 
weapons  of  the  male,  i.  364;  numerical 
proportion  of  sexes  ot;  i.  305. 

Stainton,  H.  T.,  on  the  numei-ical  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes  in  the  smaller  moths,  i. 
302 ;  habits  of  Elachista  rufocinerea,  i. 
303;  on  the  coloration  of  moths,  i.  384; 
on  the  rejection  of  Spilosoma  menthroH 


430 


INDEX. 


a,  by  tiirkcv's,  1.  856;  on  the  sexes  of 
Agrotix  erclamaiionin.  i.  8S6. 

Btallios,  mane  of  tlio.  ii.  '2ri(). 

Stallions,  two,  attiukinf;  a  third,  i.  72; 
flphting,  li.  230;  small  canine  teeth  of;  ii. 
246. 

Stansburv,  Captain,  obserrations  on  pell- 
cans,  i.  74. 

Staphylinid^  bornliko  processes  in  male, 
1.  30:3. 

Starfishes,  bripht  v-olors  of  some.  i.  313. 

Stark.  Dr.,  on  the  death-rate  in  towns  and 
rural  di.stricts.  i.  l(Ji»;  on  the  influence  of 
marriape  on  mortality,  i.  170 ;  on  the  high- 
er mortality  of  males  in  Scotland,  i.  292. 

Starlino,  American  field,  pugnacity  of 
male,  ii.  49. 

Starling,  red-winjred,  selection  of  a  mate 
by  the  female,  ii.  111. 

Starlings,  three,  frequentins'  the  same 
nest,  i.  209,  ii.  102 ;  new  mates  found  bv, 
ii.  101. 

Statues,  Greek,  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  etc., 
contrasted,  ii.  33;3. 

Stati-re,  dependence  of,  upon  local  influ- 
ences, i.  110. 

Staudinger,  Dr..  his  list  of  Lepidoptera,  i. 
304;  on  breeding  Le])idoptera.  i.  303. 

Staunton,  Sir  C,  hatred  of  indecency  a 
modern  virtue,  i.  92. 

Stealing  of  bright  objects  by  birds,  ii. 
107. 

Stebeixg,  T.  E..  on  the  nakedness  of  the 
luiman  liody,  ii.  859. 

Stemtmitopm,  li.  26.5. 

jSienol/ot/inm  prutoritm,  stridulating  or- 
gans of  i.  340. 

Sterility,  genei-al,  of  sole  daughters,  i.  164 ; 
when  crossed,  a  distinctive  character  of 
species,  i.  206. 

Sterna,  seasonal  change  of  plumage  in,  15. 
21 S. 

STiCKLE-BArK,  polvgamous.  i.  262 ;  male, 
courtship  of  the.  ii.  2 ;  male,  brilliant  col- 
oring of.  during  the  breeding-season,  ii. 
14;  nidiflcation  of  the,  ii.  19. 

Sticks  used  as  implements  and  weapons 
bj-  monkeys,  i.  50. 

Sting  in  bees.  i.  240. 

Stokes,  Captain,  on  the  habits  of  the  great 
Bower-bird,  ii.  00. 

Stoneciiat.  young  of  the,  ii.  211. 

Stone  implements,  difliculty  of  making,  i. 
138 ;  as  traces  of  extinct  tribes,  i.  22S. 

Stones,  used  by  monkeys  for  breaking 
hard  fruits  and  as  missiles,  i.  134 ;  piles 
of,  i.  224. 

Stork,  black,  sexual  differences  in  the  bron- 
chi of  the,  li.  57;  red  beak  of  the,  ii.  217. 

Storks,  ii.  216.  220;  sexual  difl'eronce  ia 
The  color  of  the  eves  of.  ii.  123. 

Strange,  Mr.,  on  the  Satin  Bower-bird,  ii. 
66. 

Stretch,  "Mr.,  on  the  numerical  proportion 
in  the  sexes  of  ehickens.  i.  290. 

JStrepsiceros  A'lidti,  horns  of,  ii.  243;  mark- 
ings of.  ii.  2S7. 

Stuibclation,  by  males  of  Tfieridion,  1. 


829;  of  the  Orthoptera  and  Ilomoptera 
discussed,  i.  349 ;  of  beetles,  i.  366. 

Stripes,  retained  throughout  groups  of 
birds,  il.  125;  disappeai-ance  oli  in  adult 
mammals,  ii.  2ss. 

StrixJIammea,  ii.  101. 

Structure,  existence  of  unserviceable 
modifications  of.  i.  147. 

Struggle  for  existence,  in  man,  i.  174, 
178. 

Strutiierr.  Dr..  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
supra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  humerus 
of  man,  i.  27. 

SivmfHa  ludoviciana,  pugnacity  of  tho 
male,  ii.  48. 

f^tuniuK  ndgaris,  ii.  101. 

Subspecies,  i.  219. 

Suffering,  In  strangers,  indiflTercnce  of 
savages  to,  i.  90. 

Suicide,  i.  166;  formerly  not  regarded  as  a 
crime,  i.  90 ;  rarely  pnictised  among  the 
lowest  savages,  i.  90. 

SuiDiF.,  stripes  of  young,  ii.  176. 

Su.vATRA,  compression  of  the  nose  by  tho 
Malays  of,  ii.  a35. 

Sumner,  Archbishop,  man  aloni?  capable  of 
progressive  improvement,  i.  47. 

SuN-niRDs,  nidiflcation  of,  ii.  161. 

Superstitions,  i.  175;  prevalence  of,  i.  95. 

SuPEP-STiTious  customs,  i.  60. 

Superciliary  ridge  in  man.  ii.  301,  303. 

Supernumerary  digits,  more  frequent  in 
men  than  in  women.  1.  268 ;  inheritince 
of,  1.  270 ;  early  development  of  i.  2S2. 

Supra-condyloid  foramen  in  the  early  pro- 
genitors of  man.  i.  198. 

Suspicion,  prevalence  ofj  among  animals, 
i.  38. 

SuLivAN.  Sir  B.  J.,  on  two  stallions  attack- 
ing a  third,  ii.  230. 

Swallow-tail  Butterfly,  i.  381. 

Swallows  deserting  their  young,  i.  80,  87. 

Swan,  black,  red  beak  of  the.  ii.  217;  black- 
necked,  ii.  220 ;  white,  young  o^  11.  202 ; 
wild,  trachea  of  the.  ii.  57. 

Swans,  ii.  216,  220 ;  young,  ii.  199. 

Swaysland,  Mr.,  on  the  aiTival  of  migra- 
toiy  birds,  i.  251. 

SwiNHOE.  I*.,  on  the  common  rat  in  For- 
mosa and  Chinii,  i.  49;  on  the  sounds 
produced  by  the  male  Hoopoe,  ii.  CO;  on 
IMcruriifi  inacrocercits  and  the  Spoon- 
bill ii.  171 ;  on  the  young  o(  Ardeolti.  il. 
182;  on  the  habits  of  Tiirnix.  ii.  193;  on 
the  habits  of  Ithi/ncfKra  BcngultnsU.  ii. 
193;  on  Orioles  breeding  in  immature 
plumage,  ii.  205,  206. 

Si/lria  uiricapilla.  young  of,  ii.  210. 

Si//vi(i  ciiirrea,  aerial  love-dance  of  the 
male,  ii.  05. 

Sv.mpathy.  i.  102;  among  animals,  1.  74;  its 
supposed  basis,  i.  78. 

Sympathies,  gradual  widening  of.  1.  96. 

Svngnathous  fishes,  abdominal  pouch  in 
male,  i.  201. 

Si/pheotides  aurifiiii,  acuminated  prima- 
ries of  the  male,  il.  62 ;  ear-tufts  of.  ii. 
70. 


INDEX. 


431 


T. 

Tabanh)^,  habits  of;  i.  246. 

Tadorna  t'arieffata,  sexes  and  young  o^ 

u.  197. 
Tadorna  vnlpanser,  ii.  109. 
Tahitians,  i.  176 ;  compression  of  the  nose 

by  the,  ii.  S35. 
Tail,  rudimentary,  occurrence  of,  in  man, 
i.  29 ;  convoluted  body  in  the  extremity 
of  the,  1.  29 ;  absence  of,  in  man  and  the 
higher  apes,  i.  145, 1S7 ;  variability  of,  in 
species  of  Macacus  and  in  baboons,  1. 
144 ;  presence  of,  in  the  early  progenitors 
of  man,  i.  198;  length  of,  in  pheasants,  ii. 
149,  157, 158 ;  difference  of  length  of  the, 
in  the  two  sexes  of  birds,  ii.  157. 

Tait,  Lawson,  on  the  effects  of  natural  se- 
lection on  ci\'ilized  nations,  i.  162. 

Tanagee,  scai-let,  variation  in  the  male,  u. 

121. 
Tanagra  ceMiva,  ii.  172 ;  age  of  mature 

plumage  in,  ii.  204. 
Tanagra  rubra,  h.  121 ;  young  of,  ii.  210. 
Tanais,  absence  of  mouth  in  the  males  of 
some  species  o^  i.  247;  rehtions  of  the 
sexes  in,  i.  307 ;  dimorphic  males  of  a 
species  of,  i.  319. 

Tankerville,  Earl,  on  the  battles  of  ^vild- 
bulls,  ii.  229. 

Tany»iptera,  races  of,  determined  fi-om 
adult  males,  ii.  182. 

Tanymptera  sylvia,  long  tail-feathers  o£ 
ii.  157. 

Taphroderes  distortiis,  enlarged  left  man- 
dible of  the  male,  i.  334. 

Tapirs,  longitudinal  stripes  of  young,  ii. 
176, 2SS. 

Tarsi,  dilatation  of  fi'ont,  in  male  beetles,  i. 
333. 

Tarsius,  i.  192. 

Tasmani.\,  half-castes  killed  by  the  natives 
o^  i.  212. 

Tattooing,  i.  224;  tmiversality  of;  ii.  323. 

Taste,  in  the  Quadrumana,  ii."2S2. 

Taylor,  G.,  on  Quiscahis  major,  i.  298. 

Tea,  fondness  of  monkeys  for,  i.  12. 

Tear-sacs,  of  Ruminants,  u.  267. 

Teebay,  Mr.,  on  changes  of  plumage  in 
spangled  Hamburg  fowls,  i.  272. 

Teeth,  rudimentary  incisor,  in  Ruminants, 
i.  17 ;  posterior  molar,  in  man,  i.  25;  wis- 
dom, i.  26 ;  diversity  of,  i.  104 ;  canine,  in 
the  early  progenitors  of  man,  i.  198;  ca- 
nine, of  male  mammals,  ii.  230 ;  in  man, 
reduced  by  correlation,  ii.  310 ;  staining 
of  the,  ii.  823;  front,  knocked  out  or  filed 
by  some  savages,  ii.  324. 

Teget.meier,  Mr.,  on  the  abimdance  of 
male  pigeons,  i.  296;  on  the  wattles  of 
game-cocks,  ii.  94 ;  on  the  courtship  of 
fowls,  ii.  112 ;  on  dyed  pigeons,  ii.  113. 

Tembeta,  ii.  825. 

Temper,  in  dogs  and  horses,  mherited,  i. 
38. 

Tench,  proportions  of  the  sexes  in  the,  i. 
299,  800;  brightness  of  male,  dm-hig 
breeding-season,  ii.  18. 


TENEBRIONID.E,  stridulation  of,  i.  367. 
Tennent,  Sir  J.  E.,  on  the  tusks  of  the 
Ceylon  Elephant,  ii.  237.  247 ;  on  the  iro- 
quent  absence  of  beard  in  the  natives  of 
Ceylon,  ii.  306 ;  on  the  Chinese  opuiion  of 
the  aspect  of  the  Cingalese,  ii.  328. 
Tennyson,  A.,  on  the  control  of  thought, 

i.  91. 
Tentiiredinid.e,  proportions  of  the  sexes 
in,  i.  305 ;  fighting  habits  of  male,  i.  853 ; 
difference  of  the  sexes  in,  1.  354. 
Tephrodornis,  young  of,  ii.  182. 
Terai,  i.  229. 
7'ermite,i,  habits  of,  i.  853. 
Terns,  white,  ii.  218;  and  black,  ii.  220. 
Terns,  seasonal  change  of  plumage  in,  ii. 

218 
Terror,  common  action  of,  upon  the  lower 

animals  and  man.  i.  3S. 
Tentudo  nigra,  ii.  27. 
Tetrao  cvpido,  battles  of^  ii.  48;   sexual 

difference  in  the  vocal  organs  of,  ii.  53. 
Tetrao p/ta.sia»ellus.  dances  of,  ii.  65;  du- 
ration of  dances  of,  ii.  96. 
Tetrao  Seoticus,  ii.  163,  177.  1S6. 
7'etrao  tetria;  ii.  163,  177,  186 ;  pugnacity 

of  the  male.  ii.  42. 
Tetrao  umbellu-s:,  pahing  of,  ii.  46;  battles 

of,  ii.  48 ;  drumming  of  the  male,  ii.  59. 
Tetrao  iirogalloides,  dances  of  ii.  96. 
Tetrao  urogallim,  pugnacity  of  the  male, 

ii.  42.. 
Tetrao    iirophcwianvs,    inflation   of  the 

oesophagus  in  the  male.  ii.  55. 
Thamnobia,  young  of  h.  182. 
Thaumalea  picta,  display  of  plumage  by 

the  male,  ii.  So. 
Thecla,  se.xual  differences  of  coloring  in 

species  of  i.  377. 
Thecla  riibi.,  protective  coloring  of,  i.  380. 
Therldion,  i.  829 ;    stridulation  of  males 

of,  i.  331. 
Theridion  Uneatum,  variabihty  of  i.  828. 
Tfiomisns  citreus,  and  T.  Jioricolens,  HiU 

ference  of  color  in  the  sexes  of,  i.  328. 
Thompson,  J.  II.,  on  the  battles  of  sperm- 
whales,  ii.  230. 
Thompson,  W.,  on  the  coloring  of  the  male 
char  during  the  breeding-season,  ii.  14; 
on  the  pugnacit}'  of  the  males  of  Galli- 
niila  ch/oropus,  ii.  39 ;  on  the  finding  of 
new  mates  by  magpies,  ii.  99 ;  on  the 
finding  of  new  mates  by  Peregrine  fal- 
cons, ii.  100. 
Thorax,  processes  of,  in  male  beetles,  i. 

857. 
Thorell,  T.,  on    the  proportion  of  the 

sexes  in  spiders,  i.  806. 
Thornback,  difference  In  the  teeth  of  the 

two  sexes  of  the,  ii.  6. 
Thoughts,  control  of  i.  97. 
TnEusn,  pairing  with  a  blackbird,  ii.  109 ; 

colors  and  nidification  of  the,  ii.  162. 
Thrushes,   characters   of  young,  ii.  177, 

257. 
Thug,  his  regrets,  1.  91. 
Thumb,  absence  of,  in  Ateles  and  llijlo- 
bates,  i.  135. 


432 


INDEX. 


TiiuBY,  M.,  on  the  numerical  proportion  of 
mail'  and  female  births  among  the  Jews, 
i.  292. 

Thylacinim,  possession  of  tlie  marsupial 
sac  by  the  male,  i.  I'jy. 

TllYSANURA,  i.  SJS. 

Tim  A,  dilated,  of  the  male  Crahro  cri- 
brariim,  i.  *};?. 

TiniA  ami  femur,  proportions  of,  In  the 
Aymara  Indians,  i.  115. 

TiKr.RA  del  Fuejfo,  marriage-customs  of,  11. 
856. 

Tk'.er,  colors  and  markinffs  of  the,  ii.  2S7. 

TiGEES,  depopulation  of  districts  by,  in  In- 
dia, i.  129. 

Ti/lus  elongatus,  difference  of  color  in  the 
se.xes  oC  i.  357. 

Tlmidity,  variability  of,  in  the  same  species, 

TiNEiNA,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i.  301. 

Tipidii.  i)UL'n;icity  of  male,  i.  339. 

Tits,  sexual  <litt'iTence  of  color  in,  ii.  1G6. 

Toads,  ii.  'it ;  male,  treatment  of  ova  by 
some,  i.  202 ;  male,  ready  to  breed  before 
the  female,  i.  252. 

Toe.  great  condition  of;  in  the  human  em- 
bryo, i.  17. 

Tomtit,  blue,  sexual  difference  of  color  in 
the,  ii.  106. 

Tonga  Islands,  beardlessness  of  the  natives 
of,  ii.  307,  83:3. 

TooKE,  Ilorne,  on  language,  i.  53. 

Tools,  flint,  1.  176;  used  by  monkeys,  i. 
49 ;  use  of,  i.  132. 

Topknots,  in  birds,  ii.  71. 

Toniicrm  rillosus,  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in,  i.  805. 

Tortoise,  voice  of  the  male,  ii.  816. 

ToRTrKES,  submitted  to  by  American  sav- 
ages, 1.  91. 

ToUiniui,  double  moult  In,  ii.  77. 

TorcANS,  colors  and  nidification  of  the,  ii. 
163;  beaks  and  ceres  of  the,  ii.  217. 

Towns,  residence  in,  a  cause  of  diminished 
stature,  i.  111. 

TovNBEE,  J.,  on  the  external  shell  of  the 
ear  in  man,  i.  21. 

Trachea,  convoluted  and  embedded  in  the 
Kternum.  in  some  birds,  ii.  57 ;  structure 
of  the,  in  Iili)jm-h(V(i.  ii.  198. 

Trades,  affectiiig  the  form  of  tlie  skulL  i. 
141. 

TrageUiphvs,  sexual  differences  of  color 
in,  ii.  274. 

Trofiehiphwi  script  us.  dorsal  crest  of^  ii. 
268 ;  markings  of,  ii.  286,  287. 

Tragopan,  i.  261 ;  swelling  of  the  wattles 
of  the  male,  during  courtship,  ii.  6$ ;  dis- 
play of  plumage  by  the  male.  ii.  87 ; 
markings  of  the  sexes  of  the,  ii.  128. 

Tragops  tlUpitr.  sexual  difference  in  the 
color  of,  ii.  28. 

Training,  effect  of,  on  the  mental  differ- 
ence between  the  sexes  of  man,  ii.  813. 

Transfer  of  male  characters  to  female 
birds,  11.  1S5. 

Transmission,  equ.il,  of  ornamental  char- 
acters, to  both  sexes  in  mammals,  ii.  2s3. 


Tkaps,  avoidance  ot  bv  animals,  i.  4S ;  use 
of;  i.  132. 

Treachery,  to  comrades,  avoidance  of;  by 
savages,  1.  84. 

Tremer  cohimbw.  i.  S.M. 

Tribes,  extinct,  i.  154;  extinction  oC  1.226. 

7'ric/tiiis.  difference  of  color  in  the  se.xes 
of  a  sjiecies  of,  i.  .'556. 

Trimen,  I;.,  on  the  proportion  of  the  sexes 
in  South  African  butterflies,  i.  301 ;  on 
the  attraction  of  males  by  the  female  of 
Lasiocampa  qutrctis,  1.  303;  on  I'neii- 
niorti.  i.  348;  on  difference  of  color  in 
the  .sexes  of  beetles,  i.  856;  on  moths 
brilliantly  colored  beneath,  1.  351;  on 
mimicry" in  butterflies,  i.  S&S;  on  Gyna- 
nisa  A-/.K,and  on  the  ocellated  spots  of 
Lepidoptera,  ii.  127 ;  on  Cyllo  Leda,  ii. 
128. 

Tiinga.  sexes  and  young  of;  il.  207. 

'J'rhiga  cornutii.  ii.  78. 

Trip/uvna,  coloration  of  the  species  of,  1. 
882. 

Tristram,  II.  B.,  on  unhealthv  districts  In 
North  Africa,  i.  285:  on  the  "habits  of  the 
chaflineh  in  Talestine,  i.  29S;  on  the 
birds  of  the  Sahara,  ii.  164;  on  the  ani- 
mals inhabiting  the  Sahara,  ii.  214. 

Triton  criMtitiis.  ii.  23. 

'J'ritini  jKilmijirx.  ii.  23. 

Triton  jiinuiiitns.  ii.  23. 

'Troijloilijtex  riilgitrix.  ii.  189. 

Trogons,  colors  and  nidification  of  the,  Ii. 
16:3.  165. 

Tropic-biuds,  white  onh-  when  mature,  ii. 
218. 

Tropics,  fresh-water  fishes  of  the,  ii.  17. 

Tkout,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in,  i.  299 ; 
male,  pugn.icity  of  the.  ii.  3. 

Tror  saOutosus.  stridulation  oC  i.  369. 

Truth,  not  rare  between  members  of  the 
same  tribe,  i.  91  ;  more  highly  appre- 
ciated by  certain  tribes,  i.  96. 

TuLLocn.Major.  on  the  immunity  of  the 
negro  from  certain  fevers,  i.  234. 

Tumbler,  almond,  change  of  plumage  In 
the,  i.  2.81. 

Tardus  iiiemla,  ii.  162;  young  of,  ii.  210. 

Turdus  DiiffrntoriiM.  ii.  177. 

Turd  us  muj<icus.  ii.  162. 

Turdus  polyff/ottuA.  young  of,  ii.  210. 

Turdus  torijuatus,  ii.  162. 

Turkey,  swelling  of  the  wattles  of  the 
male,  ii.  68;  variety  of,  with  a  topknot, 
ii.  71 ;  recognition  of  a  dog  by  a,  ii.  106 ; 
wild,  jjugnacity  of  young  male,  ii.  46 ; 
wild,  notes  of  "the.  if.  58 ;  male,  wild,  ac- 
ceptjible  to  domesticated  females,  ii.  114; 
wild,  lirst  advances  made  by  older  fe- 
males, ii.  116;  wild,  breast-tuft  of  bristles 
ofthe.  ii.  171. 

Turkey-cock,  .sci-aping  of  the  wings  at, 
upon  the  gmuud,  ii.  59 ;  wild,  dispby  of 
plumage  bv,  ii.  83 ;  fighting  habits  of;  ii. 
94. 

Turner,  Prof.  "W..  on  muscular  fasciculi  In 
m.-ui  referable  to  the  panniculus  carno- 
sus,  i.  19 ;  on  the  occurrence  of  the  su- 


INDEX. 


433 


pracondyloid  foramen  in  the  human  hu- 
merus, i.  2V ;  on  muscles  attached  to  the 
coccyx  in  man,  i.  29 ;  on  the  JUum  ter- 
min'ale  in  man,  i.  29  ;  on  the  yariability 
of  the  muscles,  i.  105;  on  abnormal  con- 
ditions of  the  human  uterus,  i.  119 ;  on 
the  development  of  the  manunary  glands, 
i.  201 ;  on  male  fishes  hatching  ova  in 
their  mouths,  i.  202. 

Tiirnix,  sexes  of  some  species  of;  ii.  192, 
198. 

Turtle-dove,  cooing  of  the,  ii.  58. 

TuTTLE,  H.,  on  the  number  of  species  of 
man,  i.  218. 

Ttlok,  E.  B.,  on  emotional  cries,  gestures, 
etc.,  of  man,  i.  52 ;  on  the  origin  of  the 
belief  in  spiritual  agencies,  i.  64 ;  on  the 
primitive  barbarism  of  civilized  nations, 
i.  174 ;  on  the  origin  of  coimting,  i.  174 ; 
on  resemblances  of  the  mental  characters 
in  different  races  of  man,  i.  223. 

Type  of  structure,  prevalence  o^  i.  203. 

Typhavs,  stridulating  organs  of;  i.  366; 
stridulation  of,  i.  369. 

Twins,  tendency  to  produce,  hereditary, 
i.  128. 

Twite,  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  the,  L 
297. 

TJ. 

Ugliness,  said  to  consist  in  an  approach  to 
the  lower  animals,  ii.  337. 

Umbrella-Bird,  ii.  55,  56. 

Vmbrina,  sounds  produced  by,  ii.  22. 

United  States,  rate  of  increase  in,  i.  126 ; 
influence  of  natural  selection  on  the  prog- 
ress of;  i.  172 ;  change  undergone  by 
Europe.ins  in  the,  i.  287. 

Zfptipa  epops,  sounds  produced  by  the 
male,  ii.  60. 

UBANI1D.E,  coloration  of  the,  i.  183. 

Uria  traile,  variety  of  (=  U.  Utcrymans), 
ii.  122. 

Ukodela,  ii.  22. 

Uronticte  Benjanvini,  sexual  differences 
in,  ii.  145. 

Use  and  disuse  of  parts,  effects  of;  i.  112  ; 
influence  of;  on  the  races  of  man,  i.  238. 

Uterus,  reversion  in  the,  i.  118;  more  or 
less  divided,  in  the  human  subject,  i.  118, 
125 ;  double,  in  the  early  progenitors  of 
man,  i.  198. 

V, 

Vaccination,  influence  of;  1. 162. 

Vancouver  Island,  Mr.  Sproat  on  the  sav- 
ages of;  i.  280 ;  natives  of;  eradication  of 
facial  hair  by  the,  ii.  331. 

Vanelliis  eristatus,  wing-tubercles  of  the 
male,  ii.  44. 

Vaiiessce,  i.  375 ;  resemblance  of  lower  sur- 
face of,  to  bark  of  trees,  i.  880. 

Variability,  causes  of;  i.  107;  in  man, 
analogous  to  that  in  the  lower  animals,  i. 
108;  of  the  races  of  man,  i.  217;  greater 
in  men  than  in  women,  1.  267 ;  period  o^ 

38 


relation  of  the,  to  sexual  selection,  i.  287 ; 
of  birds,  ii.  119 ;  of  secondary  sexual 
characters  in  man,  ii.  305. 

Variation,  correlated,  i.  29 ;  laws  of.  i. 
109  ;  in  man,  i.  178 ;  analogous,  i.  186 ; 
analogous,  in  plumage  of  birds,  ii.  71. 

Variations,  spontaneous,  i.  126. 

Varieties,  absence  of,  between  two  spe- 
cies, eWdence  of  their  distinctness,  i.  207. 

Variety,  an  object  in  nature,  ii.  220. 

Variola,  communicable  between  man  and 
the  lower  animals,  i.  11. 

Vaureal,  i.  28. 

Veddahs,  monogamous  habits  of  ii.  847. 

Veitch,  Mr.,  on  the  aversion  of  Japanese 
ladies  to  whiskers,  ii.  332. 

Vengeance,  instinct  of,  i.  85. 

Venus  Erycina,  priestesses  of;  ii.  341. 

Vermes,  i.  318. 

Vermiform  appendage,  i.  26. 

Verreaux,  M.,  on  the  attraction  of  numer- 
ous males  by  the  female  of  an  Australian 
Bomb  I/O',  i.  '303. 

Vertebr.e.  caudal,  number  of,  in  macaques 
and  b.aboons.  i.  144;  of  monkeys,  partly 
embedded  in  the  body,  i.  145. 

Vertebrata,  ii.  1 ;  common  origin  of  the, 
i.  195;  most  ancient  progenitors  of  i. 
203 ;  origin  of  the  voice  in  air-breatliing, 
ii.  315. 

VeHcula  prostdtiea,  the  homologue  of 
the  uterus,  i.  80,  199. 

V1BRIS8.E,  represented  by  long  hairs  in  the 
eyebrows,  i.  24. 

Vidua,  ii.  173. 

Vidva  amUaris,  i.  260. 

Villerme,  M.,  on  the  influence  of  plenty 
upon  stature,  1. 110. 

Vinson,  Aug.,  on  the  male  of  Epeira  ni- 
gra, i.  829. 

Viper,  difference  of  the  sexes  in  the,  ii.  28. 

VlREY,  on  the  number  of  species  of  man,  i. 
218. 

Virtues,  originally  social  only,  i.  90 ;  grad- 
ual appreciation  of,  i.  159. 

Viscera,  variability  of,  in  man,  i.  105. 

ViTi  Archipelago,  population  of  the,  i.  217. 

Vlacovich,  Prof,  on  the  ischio-pubio 
muscle,  i.  122. 

Vocal  music  of  birds,  il.  48. 

Vocal  organs  of  man,  i.  56 ;  of  birds,  1. 
57 ;  ii.  156 ;  of  frogs,  ii.  27 ;  of  the  Inses- 
sores,  ii.  58 ;  difference  of,  in  the  sexes  of 
birds,  ii.  58 ;  primarily  used  in  relation  to 
the  propagation  of  the  species,  ii.  814. 

VoGT,  Carl,  on  the  origin  of  species,  i.  1 ; 
on  the  origin  of  man,  i.  4 ;  on  the  semi- 
lunar fold  in  man,  i.  23 ;  on  the  imitative 
faculties  of  microcephalous  idiots,  i.  55; 
on  microcephalous  idiots,  i.  116;  on 
skulls  from  Brazilian  caves,  i.  210;  on 
the  evolution  of  the  races  of  man,  i.  221 ; 
on  the  formation  of  the  skull  in  women, 
ii.  302;  on  the  Ainos  and  negroes,  ii. 
306;  on  the  increased  cranial  difference 
of  the  sexes  in  man  with  race-develop- 
ment, ii.  814;  on  the  obliquity  of  the 
eye  in  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  ii.  028. 


434 


INDEX. 


Voice  in  mammals,  ii.  2C1 ;  In  monkeys 
and  man,  ii.  !<i)4 ;  in  man.  ii.  819;  ori^'in 
ot  in  alr-broatliinp  vortcliruU's,  ii.  SV>. 

Von  Baer,  definition  of  advancement  la 
the  orf^anio  scale,  i.  203. 

Vplpian,  Prof.,  on  the  resemblance  be- 
tween the  brains  of  man  and  of  the 
higher  ai)es,  i.  11. 

Vri.TrRES,  selection  of  a  mate  by  the  fe- 
male, U.  Ill ;  colors  ot,  U.  219. 

W. 

WADEBa,  vounp  ot  ii.  208. 

■W'AONEii,it.,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  dias- 
tema in  a  Kaffre  skull,  i.  122;  on  the 
bronchi  of  tlie  black  stork,  ii.  57. 

Wagtail,  liav's,  arrival  of  the  male  before 
the  female,  f,  251. 

■Wagtails,  Indian,  young  of,  ii.  182. 

Waist,  proportions  ot,  in  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors, i.  112. 

Waitz,  Prof.,  on  the  number  of  species  of 
man,  i.  21 S;  on  the  color  of  Australian 
infants,  11.  3l)8 ;  on  the  beardlessness  of 
neffroes,  ii.  31M5 ;  on  the  fondness  of  man- 
kind for  ornaments,  ii.  822 ;  on  the  Ua- 
bility  of  nef,Toes  to  tropical  fevers  after 
residence  in  a  cold  chiuate,  i,  234;  on 
negro  ideas*  of  female  beauty,  ii.  380 ;  on 
Javanese  and  Cochin-Chinese  ideas  of 
beauty,  ii.  3;}1. 

Walckenaeb  and  Gervais,  on  the  Myria- 
poda,  i.  8;J0. 

"VS  ALiiEVEB.  M.,  on  the  hermaphroditism 
of  the  vertebrate  embrj'o,  i.  199. 

Wales,  North,  numerical  proportion  of 
male  and  female  births  in,  i.  291. 

Walkek,  Alex.,  on  the  large  size  of  the 
hands  of  laborers'  children,  i.  113. 

Walker,  F..  on  sexual  differences  in  the 
diptera,  i.  3SS. 

Wallace,  Dr.  A.,  on  the  prehensile  nse  of 
the  tarsi  Id  male  moths,  i.  'Ha ;  on  the 
rearing  of  the  Ailantus  silk-moth.  i. 
802;  on  breeding  Lenidoptera,  1.  302; 
proportion  of  sexes  of  liomiiyx  Cynthia, 
B.  yitmamai.  and  B.  Pernyi.  reared  by, 
i.  304;  on  the  development  of  Bombyx 
Cynthin  and  B.  yaminnai,  i.  836;  on 
the  pairing  of  Bombyx  Cynthia,  i.  3S8; 
on  the  fertilization  of  moth.s,  398. 

Wallace,  A.  K.,  on  the  origin  of  man, 
1.  4 ;  on  the  power  of  imitation  in  man, 
1.  8S ;  on  the  use  of  missiles  by  the 
orang,  i.  50;  on  the  varying  apprecia- 
tion of  truth  among  dilferent  tribes, 
i.  96;  on  the  iimitji  of  natural  selection 
in  man,  i.  132,  152 ;  on  the  occurrence  of 
remorse  among  savages,  i.  159;  on  the 
effects  of  natural  selection  on  civilized 
nations,  i.  161 ;  on  the  use  of  the  con- 
vergence of  the  hair  at  the  elbow  in 
the  orung,  1.  1S5;  on  the  contrast  in 
the  characters  of  the  Malays  and  Pa- 
puans, 1.  208 ;  on  the  line  of  se|>aration 
between  tile  Papuans  and  Malays,  i.  210; 
on  the  sexes  of  Ornithojiterd  Creesiw, 
1.  801 ;  on  protective  resemblances,  i. 
813  i  on  the  relative  sizes  of  the  sexes 


of  insects,  f  336;  on  EJaphomyia,  i. 
&38;  on  the  Birds  of  Paradise,  i.  260; 
on  the  pugnacity  of  the  males  of  Lep- 
torhynchua  anffimtatiui,  1.  368:  on 
sounds  pro<luced  by  Kuchiruit  longi- 
manus,  1.  870;  on  the  colors  of  IMa- 
dema,  i.  876;  on  Kallima,  1.  380; 
on  the  protective  coloring  of  moths, 
i.  382;  on  bright  coloration  as  protec- 
tive in  butterllies,  i.  888 ;  on  variability 
In  the  Papilionida',  i.  389 ;  on  male 
and  female  butterflies  Inhabiting  differ- 
ent stations.  1.  391 ;  on  the  protective 
nature  of  the  dull  coloring  of  female 
butterflies,  i.  392,  892,  401 ;  on  mimicry 
in  butterflies,  i.  39S;  on  the  mimicry 
of  leaves  by  Phasmida-,  1.  401 ;  on  the 
bright  colors  of  cateri)illars,  i.  403;  on 
brightly -colored  flsbes  frequenting  reefs, 
ii.  17;  on  the  coral  snakes,  ii.  30;  on 
Paraduiea  a  pod  a,  ii.  70.  74;  on  the 
display  of  plumage  by  male  Birds  of 
Paradise,  ii.  85;  on  assemblies  of  Birds 
of  Paradise,  ii.  97;  on  the  instability 
of  the  ocellated  spots  in  //ipparchia 
Janira,  ii.  127;  on  sexually-limited  in- 
heritance, ii.  14S;  on  the  sexual  colora- 
tion of  birds,  ii.  158.  187,  189.  192.  198 ; 
on  the  relation  between  the  colors 
and  nidification  of  birds,  ii.  1.58,  168; 
on  the  coloration  of  the  Cotingida',  iL 
169;  on  the  females  of  J'aradisea 
apoda  and  Papuana,  ii.  li!4;  on  the 
incubation  of  the  Cassowary,  11.  195; 
on  protective  coloration  in  birds,  ii.  218; 
on  the  hair  of  the  Papuans,  ii.  329; 
on  the  Babirusa,  it  250;  on  the  mark- 
ings of  the  tiger,  ii.  287 ;  on  the  beards 
of  the  Papuans,  ii.  806 ;  on  the  distribu- 
tion of  hair  on  the  human  body,  ii.  259. 

Walbvs,  development  of  the  nictitating 
membrane  in  the,  i.  23;  tusks  of  the, 
U.  231, 287';  use  of  the  tusks  by  the,  ii.  246. 

Walsh,  B.  D.,  on  the  proptirtlon  of  the 
sexes  In  Papilio  turn  i«.  i.  301  ;  on  the 
Cynipidee  and  Cecidomjidit,  i.  305;  on 
the  jaws  of  Ammophil<i.  i.  832;  on 
Corydalis  coi~n  utu«,  L  332 ;  on  the  pre- 
hensile organs  of  male  insects,  i.  883; 
on  the  antennip  of  Penthf.  i.  3;}3;  on 
the  caudal  appendages  of  dragon-flies, 
i.  884;  on  Platyphyllum  omvarutn, 
J.  845 ;  on  the  se.ves  of  the  Ephemerida», 
1.  350 ;  on  the  difference  of  color  in  the 
sexes  of  Spectrum  femoratum.  i.  350; 
on  sexes  of  dragon-flies,  i.  3,50 ;  on  the 
ditterence  of  the  sexes  in  the  Ichneu- 
monidfli,  i.  354;  on  the  sexes  of  Orno- 
daena  atra,  i.  857;  on  the  variation 
of  the  horns  of  the  male  Pkamrus  car- 
ni/eof,  1.  359 ;  on  the  coloration  of  the 
species  of  AnthocJiaris.  t.  881. 

Wapiti,  battles  of,  ii.  229 ;  traces  of  horns 
In  tlie  female,  ii.  234 ;  attaj-king  a  man, 
ii.  241 ;  crest  of  the  male,  ii.  268 ;  sexual 
ditterence  in  the  color  of  the,  ii.  276. 

Warbler,  Hedge,  il.  189 ;  young  of  the, 
ii.  200. 

Wabbi^ebs,  Saporb,  nidification  o^  U- 161. 


INDEX. 


435 


■Wardtess,  acquired  by  animals,  i.  48. 
Warington,    R.,    on    the    habits    of  the 

sticklebacks,  ii.  2,  20;   on  the   brilliant 

colore  of  the  male  stickleback  during  the 

breedinp-season,  ii.  14. 
"Wart-hog,  tusks  and  pads  of  the,  ii.  253. 
Watchmakers,  short-sighted,  i.  113. 
Waterhen,  ii.  38. 
Waterhouse,  C.  O.,  on  blind  beetles,  i. 

356 ;  on  difference  of  color  in  the  sexes 

of  beetles,  i.  356. 
Waterhouse,  G.  E.,  on  the  voice  of  Ifj/lo- 

bates  aff-iHs,  ii.  816. 
Water -OFZBL,  autumn  song  of  the,  ii.  51. 
Waterton,  C,  on  the  pairing  of  a  Canada 

goose  with  a  Bernicle  gander,  ii.  109 ;  on 

hares  fighting,  ii.  228 ;   on  the  Bell-bird, 

u.  75. 
Wattles,  disadvantageous  to  male  birds 

in  fighting,  ii.  94. 
Wealth,  influence  o^  i.  163. 
Wealb,  J.  Mansel,  on  a  South  African 

caterpillar,  i.  403. 
Weapons,  employed  by  monkeys,  i.  50; 

use  o^  i.  132 ;  offensive,  of  males,  i.  249 ; 

of  mammals,  ii.  230,  et  seq. 
Weaver-bibd,  ii.  52. 
Weaver-birds,  rattling  of  the  wings  o^ 

ii.  59 ;  assemblies  of,  ii.  97. 
Webb,  Dr.,  on  the  wisdom  teeth,  i.  26. 
Wedgewood,  Hensleigh,  on  the  origin  of 

language,  i.  54. 
Weevils,  sexual  difference  in  length  of 

snout  in  some,  i.  247. 
Weir,  Harrison,  on  the  numerical  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes  in  pigs  and  rabbits,  i. 

295 ;   on  the  sexes  of  young  pigeons,  i. 

297;   on  the  songs  of  birds,  ii.  50;   on 

pigeons,  ii.  104;   on  the  dislike  of  blue 

pigeons  to  other  colored  varieties,  ii.  113 ; 

on  the  desertion  of  their  mates  by  female 

W pigeons,  ii.  114. 
EiR,  J.  Jenner,  on  the  nightingale  and 
blackcap,  i.  2.57;  on  the  relative  sexual 
maturity  of  male  birds,  i.  253 ;  on  female 
pigeons  deserting  a  feeble  mate,  i.  254 ; 
on  three  starlings  frequenting  the  same 
.  nest,  i.  260;  on  the  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in  Machetes  pugnax  and  other 
birds,  i.  297  ;  on  the  coloration  of  the 
T7-iphcence,  i.  883 ;  on  the  rejection  of 
certain  caterpillars  by  birds,  i.  403 ;  on 
sexual  differences  of  the  beak  in  the 
goldfinch,  ii.  88;  on  a  piping  bullfinch,  ii. 
50;  on  tlie  object  of  the  nightingale's 
song,  ii.  49 ;  on  song-birds,  ii.  51 ;  on  the 
pugnacity  of  male  fine-plumaged  birds, 
ii.  89 ;  on  the  courtship  of  birds,  ii.  90 ; 
on  the  finding  of  new  mates  by  Pere- 
grine-falcons and  Kestrels,  ii.  100;  on 
the  bullfinch  and  starling,  ii.  101 ;  on  the 
cause  of  birds  remaining  unpaired,  ii. 
103 ;  on  starlings  and  parrots  Uving  in 
triplets,  ii.  103 ;  on  recognition  of  color 
by  birds,  ii.  106 ;  on  hybrid  bu-ds,  ii.  109 ; 
on  the  selection  of  a  greenfinch  by  a  fe- 
male canary,  ii.  110 ;  on  a  case  of  rivahy 
of  female  bullfinches,  ii.  116 ;  on  the  ma- 
turity of  the  Golden-pheasant,  ii.  204. 


Weisbach,  Dr.,  measurement  of  men  of 
different  races,  i.  208;  on  the  greater 
variability  of  men  than  of  women,  i.  266; 
on  the  relative  proportions  of  the  body 
in  the  sexes  of  different  races  of  man,  ii. 
305. 

Welcker,  M.,  on  Brachycephaly  and  Do- 
lichocephaly,  i.  142 ;  on  sexual  differences 
in  the  skidl  in  man,  ii.  302. 

Wells,  Dr.,  on  the  immunity  of  colored 
races  fix)m  certain  poisons,  i.  234. 

Westring,  on  the  stridulation  of  Ee<iurius 
persanatiis,  i.  340;  on  the  stridulating 
organs  of  the  Coleoptera,  i.  370 ;  on 
sounds  produced  by  Cychrxis,  i.  370 ;  on 
the  stridulation  of  males  of  Tlieridicyn, 
i.  330 ;  on  the  stridulation  of  beetles,  i. 
867 ;  on  the  stridulation  of  OmalopUa 
b>'iinne<i.  i.  369. 

Westphalia,  greater  proportion  of  female 
illegitimate  children  in,  i.  292. 

Westrop,  H.  M.,  on  the  prevalence  of  cer- 
tain forms  of  ornamentation,  i.  224. 

Westwood,  J.  O.,  on  the  classification  of 
the  Hymenoptera,  i.  181;  on  the  Culi- 
cidse  and  Tabanidas,  i.  246;  on  a  Hymon- 
opterous  parasite  with  a  sedentary  male, 
i.  263 ;  on  the  proportions  of  the  sexes 
in  Lucanua  cerirus  and  Siagoniwm^  i. 
805 ;  on  the  absence  of  ocelli  in  female 
mutillida>,  i.  331 ;  on  the  jaws  of  Am- 
7nophila,  i.  832 ;  on  the  copulation  of  in- 
sects of  distinct  species,  i.  832 ;  on  the 
male  of  Crabro  cribrariu»y  i.  333 ;  on 
the  pugnacity  of  male  Tip^dcE,  i.  339 ;  on 
the  stridulation  of  Pirates  stridulus,  i 
340 ;  on  the  Cicadee,  i.  841 ;  on  the  strid- 
ulating organs  of  the  crickets,  i.  335 ;  on 
Pnewmava,  i.  347 ;  on  Ephipj/iger  mti- 
v»i,  i.  845,  848 ;  on  the  pugnacity  of  the 
Mantides,  i.  349 ;  on  P/ati/b/emnits,  i. 
350;  on  difference  in  the  sexes  of  the 
Aginonidae,  i.  351 ;  on  the  pugnacity  of 
the  males  of  a  species  of  TentliredinsB, 
i.  852  ;  on  the  pugnacity  of  the  male 
stag-beetle,  i.  864;  on  Bledius  tanrua 
and  Siaffoiiium,  i.  363  ;  on  lamellicom 
beetles,  i.  364 ;  on  the  coloration  of  Litho- 
sia,  i.  883. 

Whale,  Sperm-,  b.attles  of  male,  ii.  229. 

Whales,  n.akedness  of,  i.  142. 

Whately,  Archb.,  language  not  peculiar 
to  man,  i.  52 ;  on  the  primitive  civiliza- 
tion of  man,  i.  174. 

Whewell,  Prof.,  on  maternal  affection, 
i.  38. 

Whiskers,  in  monkeys,  i.  185. 

White,  Gilbert,  on  the  proportion  of  the 
sexes  in  the  partridge,  i.  297;  on  the 
house-cricket,  l  342 ;  on  the  object  of 
the  song  of  bu-ds,  ii.  50 ;  on  the  finding 
of  new  mates  by  white  owls,  ii.  101 ;  on 
spring  coveys  of  male  partridges,  ii.  103. 

Whiteness,  a  sexual  ornament  in  some 
birds,  ii.  221 ;  of  mammals  inhabiting 
snowy  countries,  il  284. 

White-throat,  aerial  love-dance  of  the 
male,  ii.  65. 

Wmow-BiBD,  polygamous,  i  260 ;  breed- 


436 


INDEX. 


\ng  pliimn^o  of  the  male,  il.  SO,  93 ;  fe- 
iniilo,  rejecting  the  unaQorued  male,  ii. 
115. 

■V\'ii><)ws  anil  widowers,  mortjilitv  of.  i.  170. 

"W'niKoN,  pairing  with  a  iiijitaii  duck,  il. 
109. 

"WiLCKF.NS,  Dr.,  on  the  modifleation  of  do- 
mestic anhiials  in  inountiiinous  refrions, 
1.  IIG;  on  a  niinierieal  relation  between 
the  hairs  and  excretory  pores  in  sheep, 
1.  289. 

WiLUKK,  Dr.  Burt,  on  the  greater  fre- 
quency of  siipernunierarj'  digits  in  men 
than  in  women,  i.  2t)T. 

Williams,  on  the  marriage-customs  of  the 
Fijians,  ii.  857. 

"Wilson,  Dr..  on  the  conical  heads  of  the 
natives  of  Northwestern  America,  ii.  *J5; 
on  the  Fijians,  ii.  8;35;  on  the  persLstence 
of  the  fashion  of  comprossing  the  skull, 
ii.  836. 

W'iNo-sprRs,  ii.  155. 

WiNfis,  differences  of.  in  the  two  sc.xcs  of 
buttirHies  and  ll\ iiuiiciiilini,  i.  835; 
play  of,  in  the  courtship  of  birds,  ii.  !>!. 

"WiNTKR,  change  of  color  of  mammals  in, 
ii.  2S4. 

"WiTnicRAFT,  i.  66. 

Wives,  traces  of  the  forcible  capture  o£  L 
175. 

Wolf,  \vintcr  change  of  the,  ii.  2S4. 

Wolff,  on  the  variability  of  the  viscera  in 
man,  i.  105. 

WoLLASTON,  T.  v.,  on  Eiirygnathuft,  1. 
834;  on  musical  curculionidie,  i.  866 ;  on 
the  stridulation  oi  Actilhn,  i.  872. 

WoLVKS  learning  to  bark  from  dogs,  i.  42; 
hunting  in  packs,  i.  72. 

WoLVFXs.  black,  ii.  2S0. 

Wo.MBAT,  black  varieties  of  the,  ii.  2S0. 

Women  distinguislied  from  men  i)y  male 
monkevs,  i.  13 ;  preponderance  of,  in 
numbers,  i.  292 ;  effects  of  seU'Ction  ot, 
in  aceordaiK-e  with  different  standards 
of  beauty,  ii.  .S:i9  ;  jiractiee  of  capturing, 
ii.  344.  .'Us  ;  early  betrothals  and  slavery 
of.  ii.  85(1;  selection  ot;  for  beauty,  u. 
8.56 ;  freedom  of  selection  by,  in  savage 
tribes,  ii.  356. 

Wonder,  manifestations  of.  by  animals.  i.41. 

WoNFOR.  Mr.,  on  sexual  peculiarities  in  the 
wings  of  buttertlies,  i.  .835. 

WoOLNER,  Mr.,  observations  on  the  e^r  in 
man,  i.  22. 

Wood,  .1.,  on  muscular  variations  in  man, 
i.  105, 12.3. 124 ;  on  the  greater  variability 
of  the  muscles  in  men  tlian  in  women,  1 
266. 

Wood.  T.  W.,  on  the  coloring  of  the  orange- 
tip  butleitly.  1.  3^1  ;  ,,n  the  habits  of  the 
Saturniida'.  i.  3N^;  on  the  habits  of  J/e- 
nura  Albert i,  ii.  53;  on  Tetrao  cupklo, 
ii.  .53 ;  on  the  display  of  plumage  by  male 
Jihea.sants.  ii.  85 ;  on  the  ocellated  spots 
of  the  Argus  iiheas.nnt,  ii.  1.3S;  on  the 
habits  of  the  female  (."as.'sowary.  ii.  195. 

WooiicooK,  coloration  of  the,  ii.'2I6. 

WoiiorEi-KER,  selection  of  u  mate  by  the 
female,  Ii.  111. 


WooDPErKERS.  il.  .%3;  tapping  of  Ii.  .59; 
colors  and  nidllication  or  the,  ii.  1(W,  166, 
214;  characters  of  young,  ii.  177,  190.  2(MJ. 

Worm  ALU.  Mr.,  on  the  coloration  oiilijpo- 
l>!/iii.  i.  8s4. 

Wor.SDs.  healing  o£  i.  13. 

Wren.  il.  1S9  ;  young  of  the,  ii.  200. 

Wriuht,  C.  a.,  on  the  young  of  Orocetet 
and  J'etrocincki,  ii.  210. 

WRKiiiT,  Chaimcey,  on  correlative  acquisi- 
tion, ii.  819;  on  the  enlargement  of  the 
brain  in  man,  ii.  873. 

Wrkmit,  Mr.,  on  the  Scotch  deerhound.  ii. 
250 ;  on  sexual  preference  in  dogs,  ii.  259 ; 
on  the  rejection  of  a  horse  by  a  mare,  ii. 
260. 

AVeiciit.  W.  von,  on  the  protective  plu- 
mage of  the  Ptarmigan,  ii.  78. 

Writino,  i.  17.5. 

Wyman,  Prof,  on  the  prolongation  of  the 
coccy.x  in  the  human  embiyo.  i.  16;  on 
the  condition  of  the  great-tt>o  in  the  hu- 
man embrj'o,  i.  17;  on  variation  in  the 
skulls  of  tlie  natives  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  i.  104;  on  the  hatching  of  the 
eggs  in  the  mouths  and  branchial  ca\itie8 
of  male  tishes,  L  202 ;  ii.  19. 


XENARciirs,  on  the  Cicadm,  i.  840. 

Xeiiorltinich M.v.  se.vual  difference  in  the  col- 
or (if  tlie  i'ves  in,  ii.  123. 

A'ij'/ioji/)i>riiJi  /fel/erii,  peculiar  anal  fin  of 
the  male.  ii.  9.  10. 

Xylocopa,  difference  of  the  sexes  in,  L  354. 

Y. 

Tarreli.,  W.,  on  the  habits  of  the  Cyprl- 
nida>,  i.  300;  on  Itaia  cl<tra<a.  ii.  2;  on 
the  characters  of  the  male  salmon  during 
the  breeding-season,  ii.  4, 14 ;  on  the  char- 
acters of  the  rays,  ii.  6;  on  the  gemme- 
ous  dragonet,  ii.  8;  on  the  .<;pawning  of 
the  salmon,  ii.  18;  on  the  incubation  of 
tlie  Lophobranchii,  ii.  20;  on  rivalry  in 
song-birds,  ii.  50 ;  on  the  trachea  of"  the 
swan,  ii.  57 ;  on  th£  moulting  of  the  ana- 
tida".  ii.  81 ;  on  an  instance  of  reasoning 
in  a  gull,  ii.  104;  on  the  young  of  the 
waders,  ii.  208. 

Yellow  fever,  immunity  of  negroes  and 
inulattoes  from,  i.  234. 

You  ATT,  Mr.,  on  the  development  of  the 
horns  in  cattle,  i.  280. 

YfRA-0ABA8,  their  notioDB  of  beauty,  il. 
831. 

Z. 

Zebra,  rejection  of  an  ass  by  a  female,  U. 

281 ;  stripes  of  the,  ii.  2S3. 
ZEitrs,  humps  of  ii.  271. 
ZiuzAUS,  prevalence  of  as  ornaments,  i.  224. 
ZiNCKE.  Mr.,  on  Kuropeau  emigration  to 

America,  i.  172. 
Zi>oUh-<i  riripara^  sexual  difference  in  the 

color  of,  il.  34. 
ZYQ.SNUJE:,  coloration  of  tbe^  t.  3S3. 


VOEKS  OP  HEEBEET  SPEXCEE, 

PUBLISHED    BT 

D.   APPLETOlSr    AND    COMPAlSrY. 

SYSTEM  OF  PHILOSOPHY. 

I.— FIRST   PRINCIPLES. 
{New  and  Enlarged  Edition.) 
Part  I. — The  Unkxowable. 
Part  II.— Laws  of  the  Knowable. 

559  pages.     Price, $2.60 

IL— THE   PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY.— VOL.   L 
Part  I. — The  Data  of  Biology. 
Part  II. — The  Inductions  of  Biology. 
Part  III. — The  Evolotion  of  Life. 

475  pages.     Price,  ...-.---        $2.50 

PRINCIPLES   OF  BIOLOGY.— VOL.   IL 
Part  TV. — Morphological  Deyelopment. 
Part  V. — Physiological  Development. 
Part  VI. — Laws  of  Multiplication. 

565  pages.     Price,  ........        $2.50 

III.— THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  PSYCHOLOGY. 

Part  I. — The  Data  of  Psychology.     144  pages.     Price,        -  -  $0.75 

Part  II. — The  Inductions  of  Psychology.     146  pages.     Price,  -  $().'75 
Part  III. — General  Synthesis.     100  pages.         )  „  . 

Part  IV.— Special  Synthesis.     112  pages.  |- i  nee,  -  .  $1.00 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

I.— ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  UNIVERSAL  PROGRESS. 
Thirteen  Articles.    451  pages.       Price,        •        -        .        -        -        $2.50 

n.— ESSAYS : 

Moral,  Political,  and  .^Esthetic. 

Ten  Essays.     S86  pages.     Price,  ......        $2.50 

III.— SOCIAL    STATICS: 
Or  the  Conditions  Essential  to  Human  Happiness  Specified,  and  the 
First  of  them  Developed. 
623  pages.     Price,  -        -        -        $2.50 

TV.— EDUCATION : 

Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Physical. 

283  pages.     Price,  $1.25 

v.— CLASSIFICATION   OF  THE   SCIENCES. 
60  pages.     Price,       ...  .  .....        $0.25 

VL— SPONTANEOUS  GENERATION,  &c. 
16  pages.     Price, $0.25 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  CIVILIZATION; 

OR,   THE 

PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  OF  MAN. 
By  SIR   JOHN   LUBBOCK,  Bart,  M.  P.,  F.  R.  S. 

3SO    Pages.    Illustrated. 

This  interesting  work  is  the  fruit  of  many  years'  research 
by  an  accoraplislied  naturalist,  and  one  well  trained  in  mod- 
ern scientific  methods,  into  the  mental,  moral,  and  social  con- 
dition of  the  lowest  savage  races.  The  want  of  a  work  of 
this  kind  had  long  been  felt,  and,  as  scientific  methods  are 
being  more  and  more  applied  to  questions  of  humanity,  there 
has  been  increasing  need  of  a  careful  and  authentic  work  de- 
scribing the  conditions  of  those  tribes  of  men  who  are  lowest 
in  the  scale  of  development. 

"  This  interesting  work — for  it  is  intensely  so  in  its  aim,  scope,  and  the 
ability  of  its  author — treats  of  what  the  scientists  denominate  anthropologyy 
or  the  natural  history  of  the  human  species;  the  complete  science  of  man, 
body  and  soul,  including  sex,  temperament,  race,  civilization,  etc." — Provi- 
dence Press. 

"  A  work  which  is  most  comprehensive  in  its  aim,  and  most  admirable  in 
its  execution.  The  patience  and  judgment  bestowed  on  the  book  are  every- 
where apparent;  the  mere  list  of  autliorities  quoted  giving  evidence  of  wide 
and  impartial  reading.  The  work,  indeed,  is  not  only  a  valuable  one  on  ac- 
count of  the  opinions  it  expresses,  but  it  is  also  most  serviceable  as  a  book 
of  reference.  It  oflFers  an  able  and  exhaustive  table  of  a  vast  array  of  facts, 
which  no  single  student  could  well  obtain  for  himself,  and  it  has  not  been 
made  the  vehicle  for  any  special  pleading  on  the  part  of  the  author."— 
London  Atlienwum. 

"  The  book  is  no  cursory  and  superficial  review ;  it  goes  to  the  very  heart 
of  the  subject,  and  embodies  the  results  of  all  the  later  investigations.  It  is 
replete  with  curious  and  quaint  information  presented  in  a  compact,  luminous, 
and  entertaining  form." — AWany  Evening  Journal. 

"  The  treatment  of  the  subject  is  eminently  practical,  dealing  more  with 
fact  than  theory,  or  perhaps  it  will  be  more  just  to  say,  dealing  only  with 
theory  amply  sustained  by  fact." — Detroit  Free  Press. 

"  This  interesting  and  valuable  volume  illustrates,  to  some  extent,  the 
way  in  which  the  modern  scientific  spirit  manages  to  extract  a  considerable 
treasure  from  the  chaff  and  refuse  neglected  or  thrown  aside  by  former  in- 
quirers."— L<yndon  Sutnrday  Review. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SPECIES, 

By  CHARLES  DARWIN. 


A  new  American  edition  of  "  The  Origin  of  Species,"  later  than  the  latest 
English  edition,  has  just  been  published,  with  the  author's  most  recent  cor- 
rections and  additions. 

In  the  whole  history  of  the  progress  of  knowledge  there  is  no  case  so  re- 
markable of  a  system  of  doctrines,  at  first  generally  condemned  as  false  and 
absurd,  coming  into  general  acceptance  in  the  scientific  world  in  a  single 
decade.  From  the  following  statements,  the  reader  will  infer  the  estimate 
that  is  now  placed  upon  the  man  and  his  works  by  the  highest  authorities. 

"Personally  and  practically  exercised  in  zoology,  in  minute  anatomy,  in 
geology ;  a  student  of  geographical  distribution,  not  on  maps  and  in  museums 
only,  but  by  long  voyages  and  laborious  collection  ;  having  largely  advanced 
each  of  these  branches  of  science,  and  having  spent  many  years  in  gathering 
and  sifting  materials  for  his  present  work,  the  store  of  accurately-registered 
facts  upon  which  the  author  of  the  'Origin  of  Species'  is  able  to  draw  at 
will  is  prodigious." — Prof.  T.  H.  Huxlet. 

"  Far  abler  men  than  myself  may  confess  that  they  have  not  that  untiring 
patience  in  accumulating,  and  that  wonderful  skill  in  using,  large  masses  of 
facts  of  the  most  varied  kind — that  wide  and  accurate  physiological  knowl- 
edge— that  aeuteness  in  devising,  that  skill  in  carrying  out  experiments,  and 
that  admirable  style  of  composition,  at  once  clear,  persuasive,  and  judicial, 
qualities  which,  in  their  harmonious  combination,  mark  out  Mr.  Darwin  as 
the  man,  perhaps  of  all  men  now  living,  best  fitted  for  the  great  work  he 
has  undertaken  and  accomplished." — Alfred  Russell  Wallace. 

In  Germany  these  views  are  rapidly  extending.  Prof.  Giekie,  a  distin- 
guished British  geologist,  attended  the  recent  Congress  of  German  Natural- 
ists and  Physicians,  at  Innspruck,  in  which  some  eight  hundred  savanta 
were  present,  and  thus  writes : 

"What  specially  struck  me  was  the  universal  sway  which  the  writings 
of  Darwin  now  exercise  over  the  German  mind.  You  see  it  on  every  side,  in 
private  conversation,  in  printed  papers,  in  all  the  many  sections  into  which 
such  a  meeting  as  that  at  Innspruck  divides.  Darwin's  name  is  often  men- 
tioned, and  always  with  the  profoundest  veneration.  But  even  where  no  al- 
lusion is  specially  made  to  him,  nay,  even  more  markedly,  where  such  allusion 
is  absent,  we  see  how  thoroughly  his  doctrines  have  permeated  the  scientific 
mind,  even  in  those  departments  of  knowledge  which  might  seem  at  first 
sight  to  be  farthest  from  natural  history.  '  You  are  still  discussing  in  Eng- 
land,' said  a  German  friend  to  me,  '  whether  or  not  the  theory  of  Darwin  can 
be  true.  We  have  got  a  long  way  beyond  that  here.  His  theory  is  now  our 
common  starting-point.'  And,  so  far  as  my  experience  went,  I  found  it  t« 
be  so." 

D.    -A.I»I>I..KTON-    &    CO..    I»iat»lislier«. 


D.  Appleton  &  Company''8  rvhUcatiovn. 


LAY   SEEMO^y, 
ADDRESSES,    AND    REVIEWS, 

By   THOMAS   HENRY  HUXLEY. 
Cloth,  12mo.      390  pages-      Price,  $1.76 

This  is  the  latest  and  most  popular  of  the  works  of  this  in- 
trepid and  accomplished  English  thinker.  The  American  edition 
of  the  work  is  the  latest,  and  contains,  in  addition  to  the  English 
edition,  Professor  lluxley's  recent  masterly  address  on  "  Spon- 
taneous Generation,"  delivered  before  the  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  of  which  he  was  president. 

The  following  is  from  an  able  article  in  the  Independent : 

The  "  Lay  Sermons,  Addresses,  and  Reviews  "  is  a  book  to  be  read 
by  every  one  who  would  keep  up  with  the  advance  of  truth — as  well  by 
those  who  are  hostile  as  those  who  are  IVicudly  to  his  conclusions.  In 
it,  scientitic  and  philosophical  topics  are  handled  with  consummate  abil- 
ity. It  is  remarkable  for  purity  of  style  and  power  of  expression.  No- 
where, in  any  modern  work,  is  the  advancement  of  the  pursuit  of  that 
natural  knowledge,  which  is  of  vital  importance  to  bodily  and  mental 
well-being,  so  ably  handled. 

Professor  Iluxley  is  undoubtedly  the  representative  scientific  man  of 
the  age.  His  reverence  for  the  right  and  devotion  to  truth  have  estab- 
lished his  leadership  of  modern  scientific  thought.  He  leads  the  beliefs 
and  aspirations  of  the  increasingly  powerful  body  of  the  younger  men  of 
science.  His  ability  for  research  is  marvellous.  There  is  possible  no  more 
equipoise  of  judgment  than  that  to  which  he  brings  the  phenomena  of 
Nature.  Besides,  he  is  not  a  mere  scientist.  His  is  a  popularized  phi- 
losophy ;  social  ([uestions  have  been  treated  by  his  pen  in  a  manner  most 
masterly.  In  his  popular  addresses,  embracing  the  widest  range  of  top- 
ics, he  treads  on  ground  with  which  he  seems  thoroughly  familiar. 

There  are  those  wlio  hold  tlie  name  of  Professor  Iluxley  as  synony- 
mous with  irreverence  and  atlicism.  Plato's  was  so  held,  and  Galileo's, 
and  Descartes's,  and  Newton's,  and  Faraday'g.  There  can  be  no  greater 
mistake.  No  man  has  greater  reverence  for  the  Bible  than  Huxley.  No 
one  more  acquaintance  with  the  text  of  Scripture.  He  believes  there  is 
definite  government  of  the  universe  ;  that  pleasures  anJ  pains  are  distrib- 
uted in  accordance  with  law  ;  and  that  the  certain  proportion  of  evd 
woven  up  in  the  life  even  of  worms  will  help  the  man  n\\o  thinks  to  bear 
his  own  share  with  courage. 

In  the  estimate  of  Professor  Huxley's  future  influence  upon  science, 
his  youth  and  health  form  a  large  element.  He  has  just  pasj^ed  his  Ibrty- 
fifth  year.  If  God  spare  his  life,  truth  can  hardly  fall  to  be  the  gainer 
from  a  mind  that  is  stored  with  knowledse  of  the  laws  of  the  Creator's 
operations,  and  that  has  learned  to  love  all  beauty  and  hitt^*  «3  rilcucaii  of 
Nature  and  art. 


BPENGER8  SYSTEM  OF  PHILOSOPHY. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EYOLUTION. 

By  HERBERT  SPENCER. 


Thia  great  system  of  scientiflc  thought,  the  most  original  and  important  men- 
tal undertaking  of  the  age,  to  which  Mr.  Spencer  has  devoted  his  life,  is  now  well 
advanced,  the  published  volumes  being;  First  Principles,  The  Principles  of  Bi- 
ology, two  volumes,  and  The  Principles  of  Psychology,  vol.  i.,  which  will  bo 
shortly  printed. 

This  philosophical  system  differs  from  all  its  predecessors  in  being  solidly 
based  on  the  sciences  of  observation  and  induction ;  in  representing  the  order 
and  course  of  Nature  ;  in  bringing  Nature  and  man,  life,  mind,  and  society,  undt^r 
one  great  law  of  action  ;  and  in  developing  a  method  of  thought  which  may  serve 
for  practical  guidance  in  dealing  with  the  affairs  of  life.  That  Mr.  Spencer  is  the 
man  for  this  great  work  will  be  evident  from  the  following  statements : 

"  The  only  complete  and  systematic  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  Evolution 
with  whicli  I  am  acquainted  is  that  contained  in  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  '  System 
of  Philosophy ; '  a  work  which  should  be  carefully  studied  by  all  who  desire  to 
know  whither  scientific  thought  is  tending."— T.  H.  Huxley. 

"  Of  all  our  thinkers,  he  is  the  one  who  has  formed  to  himself  the  largest  new 
scheme  of  a  systematic  philosophy." — Prof.  Masson. 

"  If  any  individual  influence  is  visibly  encroaching  on  Mills  in  this  country,  it 
is  his." — Ibid. 

"  Mr.  Spencer  is  one  of  the  most  vigorons  as  well  as  boldest  '.tinkers  that 
English  speculation  has  yet  produced." — John  Stuart  Mill. 

"  One  of  the  acutest  metaphysicians  of  modern  times." — Ibid. 

*'  One  of  our  deepest  thinkers."— Dr.  Joseph  D.  Hookeb. 

It  is  questionable  if  any  thinker  of  finer  calibre  has  appearo'l  h\  our  coun- 
try."— George  Henbt  Lewes. 

"He  alone,  of  all  British  thinkers,  has  organized  a  philosophy."— TT'^fi. 

"  He  is  as  keen  an  analyst  as  is  known  In  the  history  of  philotiophy ;  I  do  not 
except  either  Aristotle  or  Kant." — George  Kiplet. 

"  If  we  were  to  give  our  own  judgment,  we  should  say  that,  since  Newton, 
there  has  not  in  England  been  a  philosopher  of  more  remarkable  speculative  and 
eystematizing  talent  than  (in  spite  of  some  errors  and  some  narrowness)  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer."— /^Oftc^cOT  Saturday  Review. 

"  We  cannot  refrain  from  offering  our  tribute  of  respect  to  one  who,  whether 
for  the  extent  of  his  positive  knowledge,  or  for  the  profundity  of  his  speculative 
insight,  has  already  achieved  a  name  second  to  none  in  the  whole  rangt,  of  Eng- 
lish philosophy,  and  whose  vi-orks  will  worthily  sustain  the  credit  of  English 
tboaght  in  the  present  generation."— fre«<m««<er  Review. 


Works  of  Herbert  Spencer  publuhed  by  D.  App  eton  «*  Ob. 


ESSAYS: 

MORAL,  POLITICAL,  AND  ESTBETIO. 

In  one  Voliune.    I<aree  12mo.    386  patraa. 

contents: 
L  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 
n.  Ovcr-Lefrislation. 
in.  Morals  of  Trade. 
IV.  Personal  Beauty. 
V.  Representative  Government 
VI.  Prison-Ethics. 

VII.  Railway  Morals  and  Railway  Policy. 
VIIL  Gracefulness. 
IX,  State  Tamperings  with  Money  and  Banka. 
X  Reform  ;  the  Dangers  and  the  Safeguards. 


"  These  Essays  form  a  new,  and  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  a  most  popular  InstaTlraent 
If  the  intellectual  benefactions  of  that  earnest  »Titer  and  profound  philosopher,  Her- 
bert Spencer.  There  is  a  reinarkalile  anion  of  the  speculative  and  practical  tn  theM 
papers.  They  are  the  fhiit  of  studies  alike  economical  and  psychological;  they  touch 
the  problems  of  the  passing  hour,  an<l  they  grasp  truths  of  universal  application  ;  they 
will  be  founa  as  instructive  to  the  general  reader  as  interesting  to  political  and  social 
students." — Bonton  Traivcript. 

•'These  Essays  exhibit  on  a. most  every  i)age  the  powers  of  an  independent  hum&n- 
iUuian  thinker.  Mr.  Spencer's  ethics  are  rigid,  his  political  views  liberalistic,  and  hu 
aim  is  the  production  ol  the  highest  earthly  good." — Methodist  Quarterly  Review. 

"  It  abounds  iii  the  results  of  the  sharp  observation,  the  wide  reach  of  kf^vledga, 
and  the  capacity  to  write  clearly,  forcibly,  and  pointedly,  for  which  this  writei  \»  pre- 
eminent. The  subjects  are  all  suchiat  concern  us  most  intimately,  and  they  are  treated 
with  admirable  tact  and  knowledge.  The  drat  essay  on  the  Philosophy  of  Style  it 
worth  the  cost  of  the  volume;  it  would  be  a  deed  of  charity  to  print  It  by  itself  and 
•end  it  to  the  editor  of  every  newspaper  In  the  land." — New  Engiander. 

"Spencer  is  continually  g.iining  ground  with  Americans;  be  makes  a  book  fbr  oci 
more  serious  moods.  His  remarks  npon  legislation,  npon  the  nature  of  political  Insti- 
tutions and  of  tbeir  fundamental  principles;  his  elucidation  of  those  foundation  truth* 
which  control  the  policy  of  government,  are  of  peculiar  value  to  the  American  stu- 
dent"—J?o«ton  Pogt. 

"This  volume  will  receive  the  applause  of  every  serious  reader  l«r  the  prorband 
evnestneHS  and  thoroughness  with  which  its  views  are  elaborated,  the  inOnitescientlflo 
knowledge  brought  to  bear  on  every  question,  and  the  acute  and  subtle  tbinUng  dis- 
played In  every  ohapter."— A^.   W.  Christian  Advocate. 

"A  more  Instructive,  suggestive,  and  stimulating  volume  bas  not  reaotted  us  1»  • 
JBf  tlma," — Piovidence  JoumoK, 


Worit  published  bv  T>.  Appldon  <£r  Co. 


THE  CORREUTION  AND  COKSERVATION 


rORCES. 


A   SERIES    OF   EXPOSITIONS    BY  GROVE,   MAYER,   HELMHOLT^ 
FARADAY,   LIEBIG,  AND   CARPENTER. 


AN    INTRODUCTION. 

BY  K  L.   T0UMAN8 

The  work  embraces ; 

L— THE  CORKELATIOF   OF  PHYSICAL  FORCES.     Bt 
W.  R.  Gkove.     (The  complete  work.) 

n.— CELESTIAL  DYNAMICS.     By  De.  J.  R.  Mayb*. 

m.— THE  INTERACTION  OF  FORCES.     By  Peof.  Hkuc. 

HOLTZ. 

rV.  —  THE    CONNECTION    AND    EQIHYALENCE    OF 
FORCES.    By  Peof.  Liebig. 

v.— ON   THE    CONSERVATION    OF   FORCE.      Bt  Di^ 
Fabaday. 

VI.— ON  THE  CORRELATION  OF  PHYSICAL  AND  VI 
TAL  FORCES.    By  De.  Cabpbntbb. 


Wmks  of  Herbert  Spencer  published  6^  J),   dppldoti  <fc  Cb. 


A  NEW  SYSTEM  OF  PHILOSOPUY. 

FIRST    PRINCIPLES. 

L.  VoL    L*rsre  12mo.    616  Pages.    Price  $2  60. 

Contents : 
Part  Ferst. — 7%«  Uhknotoable. 

Ckiaptei  1.  Religion  and  Science;  IL  Ultimate  Religious  Ideas;  lU 
Ultimate  Scientific  ideas;  IV.  The  Relativity  of  all  Knowledge;  V  Th« 
RecoucUiatiuu. 

Part  Second. — Laws  of  Ow  Knomable. 

I.  Laws  in  General;  11.  The  Law  of  Evolution;  III.  The  same  con- 
tinued ;  IV.  The  Causes  of  Evolution ;  V.  Space,  Time,  Matter,  Motion,  and 
Force;  VI.  The  Indestructibility  of  Matter ;  VII.  The  Continuity  of  Motion ; 
VIII.  The  Persistence  of  Force;  IX.  The  Correlation  and  Equivalence  of 
Forces ;  X.  The  Direction  of  Motion  ;  XI.  The  Klinhm  of  Motion  ;  XII.  The 
Conditions  Essential  to  Evolution;  XIII.  The  Instability  of  the  domoge- 
ueous;  XIV.  The  Multiplication  of  Eflects;  XV.  Differentiation  -.nd  Inte- 
gration ;  XVI.  Equilibration ;  XVII.  Summary  and  Conclusion. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  work  Mr.  Spencer  defines  the  province,  limits,  and 
relations  of  religion  and  science,  and  determines  the  legitimate  scope  of 
philosophy. 

In  part  second  he  unfolds  those  fundamental  principles  which  have  been 
arrived  at  within  the  sphere  of  the  knowable ;  which  are  true  of  all  orders 
of  phcnonema,  and  thus  constitute  the  foundation  of  all  philosophy.  The 
law  of  Evolution,  Mr.  Spencer  maintains  to  be  universal,  and  he  has  here 
worked  it  out  as  the  basis  of  his  system. 

These  First  Principles  are  the  foundation  of  a  system  of  Philosophy 
bolder,  more  elaborate,  and  comprehensive  perhaps,  than  any  other  wliicb 
Dai  beeu  hitherto  designed  in  England. — BrUish  Quarterly  Review. 

A  work  lofty  in  aim  and  remarkable  in  execution — Corr,hiU  Afayadnt. 

In  the  works  of  Ilerbert  Spencer  we  have  the  rudiments  of  a  poeitiTS 
Theology,  and  an  immense  step  toward  the  perfection  of  the  science  of  I'ay- 
ebology. —  Christian  Examiner. 

If  we  mintake  not,  in  spite  of  the  very  negative  character  of  his  own  r» 
nits,  he  has  foreshadowed  some  strong  arguments  for  tUe  doctrijie  of  a  pooK 
Mtb  Christian  Theology. — New  Eiiglaiuler. 

As  far  as  the  frontiers  of  knowledge,  where  the  Intellect  may  go,  there  li 
•0  living  man  whose  guidance  may  more  safely  be  trustuiL — AiltmUt 
IfmOdv. 


Worts  of  Herbert  Spencer  published  by  D.  Appleton  tit  Vo. 
la  One  Volnme,  gvo.,  Cloth.  Price    %iM. 


SOCIAL    STATICS; 

OR, 

THE    CONDITIONS   ESSENTIAL  TO    HUMAN    HAPPINESS   SPECI. 
TIED,  AND  THE  FIEST  OF  THEM  DEVELOPED. 

BY     HEEBEKT     SPENCEK. 


OPINIONS  OF  TEE  PRESS. 


Mr.  Spencer,  in  his  able  and  logical  work  on  "  Social  Statics  "  .  .  .  .  Edin- 
burgh Review, 

It  deserves  very  high  praise  for  the  ability,  clearness,  and  force  with  which 
it  is  written,  and  which  entitle  it  to  the  character,  now  so  rare,  of  a  really  sub- 
stantial booli. — North  British  Review. 

A  remarkable  work Mr.  Spencer  exhibits,  and  exhibits  with  re- 
markable force  and  clearness,  many  social  equalizations  of  a  just  and  right 
species  which  remain  yet  to  be  effected. — British  Quarterly  Review. 

An  inquiry  conducted  throughout  with  clearness,  good  temper,  and  strict 

logic We  shall  be  mistaken  if  this  book  do  not  assist  in  organising  that 

huge  mass  of  thought  which,  for  want  of  a  more  specific  name,  is  now  called 
Liberal  Opinion. — Athenceum. 

It  is  the  most  eloquent,  the  most  interesting,  the  most  clearly-expressed  and 
logically-reasoned  work,  with  views  the  most  original,  that  has  appeared  in  tha 
science  of  social  poVity.— 'Literary  Oaaette. 

The  author  of  the  present  work  is  no  ordinary  thinker,  and  no  ordinary  wri- 
ter; and  he  gives  us,  in  language  that  sparkles  with  beauties,  and  in  reasoning 
at  once  novel  and  elaborate,  precise  and  logical,  a  very  comprehensive  and 

complete  exposition  of  the  rights  of  men  in  society The  book  will 

mark  an  epoch  in  the  literature  of  scientific  morality. — Economist. 

We  remember  no  work  on  ethics  since  that  of  Spinoza  to  be  compared  with 
It  in  the  simplicity  of  its  premises,  and  the  logical  rigour  with  which  a  com- 
plete system  of  scientific  ethics  is  evolved  from  them A  work  at  once 

so  scientific  in  spirit  and  method,  and  so  popular  in  execution,  we  shall  look  in 
vain  for  through  libraries  of  political  philosophy. — Leader. 

The  careful  reading  we  have  given  it  has  both  afforded  us  intense  pleasure, 
and  rendered  it  a  duty  to  express,  with  unusual  emphasis,  our  opinion  of  ita 
gre»t  ability  and  excellence.— iVb»co«/ormis<. 


New  York:   D.  Appleton  and  Compant. 


Works  of  Herbert  Spencer  puIAiahed  by  D.  AppUton  dt  Co. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  UNIVERSAL  PROGRESS. 

A  SERIES  OF  DISCUSSIONS. 

1  Vol     Larse  12mo.    470  Pa«M.    Price    $2.50. 


Amencan  Notice  of  Spencer's  New  System  of  Philosophy. 

L  Progress :  its  Law  and  Cause. 

II  Manners  and  P'ashion. 

ni.  The  Genesis  of  Science. 

IV.  The  Physiology  of  Laughter. 

V.  The  Origin  and  Function  of  Music. 

VL  The  Nebular  Hypothesis. 

VIL  Bain  on  the  Emotions  and  the  WilL 

VlIL  Illogical  Geology. 

IX.  The  Development  Hypothesis. 

X  The  Social  Organism. 

XL  Use  and  Beauty. 

XIL  The  Sources  of  Architectural  Types. 

Xin.  The  Use  of  Anthropomorphism, 

These  Essays  constitute  a  body  of  massive  and  original  thought  upon  a 
large  variety  of  important  topics,  and  will  be  read  with  pleasure  by  all  who 
appreciate  a  bold  and  powerful  treatment  of  fVmdamental  themes.  Tha 
general  thought  which  pervades  this  book  is  beyond  doubt  the  most  impor- 
tant that  the  human  mind  has  yet  reached. — N.  Y.  Independent. 

Those  who  have  read  the  work  on  Education,  will  remember  the  ana- 
lytic tendency  of  the  author's  mind — his  clear  perception  and  admirable  ex- 
position of  first  principles — his  wide  grasp  of  facts — his  lucid  and  vigorou« 
•tyle,  and  the  constant  and  controlling  bearing  of  the  discussion  on  practical 
results.  These  traits  characterize  all  Mr.  Spencer's  writings,  and  mark,  io 
•n  eminent  degree,  the  present  volume. — N,  Y.  TVUmm, 

We  regard  the  distinguishing  feature  of  this  work  to  be  the  peculiarly 
Interesting  character  of  its  matter  to  the  general  reader.  This  is  a  great 
literary  as  well  as  philosophic  triumph.  In  the  evolution  of  a  system  of 
Philosophy  which  demands  serious  attention,  and  a  keen  exercise  of  the  in- 
tellect to  fathom  and  appreciate,  he  has  mingled  much  that  is  really  popoUi 
•od  entertaining. — Rochester  DeniocroL 


Works  qf  Herbert  Spencer  published  by  D.  Apphtcn  dk  Gk 
The  Philosophy  of  Herbert  Spencer, 


THE 

PKLtTOIPLES    OF   BIOLOGY 

VoL  I.    475  pagres.    (Now  in  press.) 

CONTENTS: 

Part  L — The  Data  of  Biology. 

I  Organic  Matter. — 11.  The  actions  of  Forces  on  Organic  Matter. — IIT.  The 
re-actions  of  Organic  Matter  on  Forces. — IV.  Proximate  Definition  of 
Life. — V.  The  Correspondence  between  Life  and  its  Circumstances.— 
VI.  The  Degree  of  Life  varies  as  the  Degree  of  Correspondence.— 
VIL  The  Scope  of  Biology. 

Part  II. — The  Inductions  of  Biology. 

L  Growth. — n.  Development. — III.  Function. — IV.  Waste  and  Repair.— 
V.  Adaptation. — VI.  Individuality. — Vll.  Genesis. — VIII.  Heredity. — 

IX.  Variation. — X.  Genesis,  Heredity,  and  Variation — XI.  Classifica- 
tion.— Xn.  Distribution. 

Part  HI. — The  Evolution  of  Lira. 

L  Preliminary. — ^H.  General  Aspects  of  the  Special-creatiou-hypothesis.^ 
ni.  General  Aspects  of  the  Evolution-hypothesis. — IV.  The  Argumenta 
from  Classification. — V.  The  Arguments  from  Embryology. — VI.  The 
Arguments  from  Morphology. — VII.  The  Arguments  f.'om  Distribution. 
— Vip.  How  is  Organic  Evolution  caused  ? — IX.  External  Factors.- 

X.  Internal  Factors. — XL  Direct  Equilibration. — Xll  Indirect  Equlli 
bration. — XIU.  The  Cooperation  of  the  Factors. — ^XIV.  The  Converg 
ence  of  the  Evidences. 


All  these  works  are  rich  In  materials  for  forming  intelligent  opinions,  even  whero 
we  are  unable  to  agree  with  those  put  forth  by  the  anthor.  Much  may  be  learned  from 
Jiem  in  departments  in  which  our  common  Educational  system  Is  very  deficient.  The 
active  citizen  may  derive  from  them  accurate  systematized  information  concerning  his 
highest  duties  to  society,  and  the  principles  on  which  they  are  based.  He  may  gain 
dearer  notions  of  the  value  and  bearing  of  evidence,  and  be  better  able  to  distinguish 
between  facts  and  inferences.  He  may  find  common  things  suggestive  of  wiser  thought 
—nay,  we  will  venture  to  say  of  truer  emotion — than  before.  By  giving  us  fuller  renll- 
tatioiu  of  liberty  and  justice  his  vritings  will  tend  to  increase  our  self-reliance  in  the 
great  emergenej  of  civilization  to  which  we  have  been  summoned.—  Atlantic  Monthly 


D.  APPLETON  <t  CO: a  PUBLICATIONS. 


Lockyer's   Astronomy. 

AMERICAN    EDITION. 

"  This  is  by  far  the  clearest  and  best  manual  of  Astronomy  we 

have  ever  seen.      A  child  may  understand  it-and  yet 

it  contains  tniormation  which  will  be  new  to 

all  who  have  not  time  to  follow  the 

latest    discoveries."  —  New 

YM-k  Daily  Times. 

The  opinion  of  the  critic  of  the  Times,  given  above, 
is  tliat  of  all  who  have  examined  this  sterling  school- 
book,  which  is  winning  golden  opinions  everywhere. 
Out  of  hosts  of  letters,  we  have  space  for  the  following 
only  :— 

"  Lockyer'8  Elements  of  Astronomy  is  a  work  of  rare  excellence.  As  a  text-book  for 
the  use  of  schools  it  i«  unxurpamed  by  any  work  on  that  subject  with  which  I  am  ac- 
quainted.'—Pkof.  Joiis  S.  Hakt,  State  Normal  School,  Trenton,  N.  J. 

"  I  think  it  an  excellent  work— well  calculated  for  class  use  by  pupils  of  an  academic 
grade.  The  arrangement  and  typography  are  worthy  of  especial  commendation.  It  is 
a  decided  success."— S.  B.  Howe,  Supt.  of  Schooh,  Sdteneetady,  N.  Y. 

"  It  is  the  bent  school-book  on  Astronomy  that  I  ever  saw.  The  spectra  of  the  sun, 
stars,  and  nebukp,  are  worth  the  price  of  the  book.  The  diagrams  are  excellent  I 
deem  it  superior  to  all  other  books  on  that  science  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  Of 
course  I  shall  use  it."— W.  H.  Pnr,  A.  M.,  Princ.  Friendnhip  Academy. 

"  I  have  examined  with  much  satisfaction  the  admirable  elementarj'  treatise  on  As- 
tronomy by  I^ckyer.  It  furnishes  the  reader  with  the  means  of  learning  in  a  short 
time  the  great  features  of  the  modern  progress  of  Astronomy.  No  book  (except,  pcr- 
hap.s,  Youmans's  New  Chemistr>-)  has  appeared,  which  so  easily,  yet  thoroughly,  pre- 
pares the  reader  for  the  subsequent  study  of  that  mighty  auxiliarj'  to  modern  science — 
spectrum-analysis.  Moreover  it  presents,  in  a  clear  and  succinct  style,  the  relations  of 
the  various  parts  of  the  stellar  universe,  besides  inducting  the  learner  into  that  neglected 
branch  of  .Vstronomy  known  as  Geography  of  the  Heavens.  Its  illustrations  are  genu- 
ine aids  to  the  comprehension  of  the  subject-matter." — David  Beattle,  Supt.  Troy 
(N.  r.)  City  Schools. 

"  I  have  examined  it  with  care,  and  find  it  admirably  adapted  for  use  in  schools.  It 
Is  so  plainly  written  and  so  ftilly  illustrated  as  to  render  it  specially  suited  for  beginners 
In  the  science,  and,  at  the  same  time,  profitable  for  advanced  students." — Peof.  C.  Sta- 
LET,  Union  College. 

"  It  is  a  clear  and  beautiftil  unfolding  of  a  profound  and  fitscinating  subject  It 
seems  to  me  admirably  adapted  to  the  academic  grade  of  students.  Not  attempting  to 
discuss  those  problems  and  theories  of  the  science  for  which  such  pupils  have  neither 
the  time  nor  the  capacity,  the  author  has  given  an  outline  of  the  subject  that  is  clear, 
Bufflciently  complete,  and  thoroughly  modem." — Pbof.  Bbadlev,  Princ.  Albany  Free 
Academy. 


DATE  DUE 

tTA  Oi  II  ^ 

'  '^^mmm 

«. 

FEB  PR  1 

)flC 

'85 

GAYLORD 

P«,NTtD.NOS.*. 

MW 


-^ 


"" ■■  "  '    '        — -■ II    I  11,1  II      I.  ■ 


